Nirdeshak nov 2015 eng (1)

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Nov 1, 2015

1) A Russian airliner carrying 217

passengers and seven crew members

crashed on 31 October 2015 resulting in

death of all persons on-board. A militant

group affiliated to the Islamic State (IS)

claimed responsibility for downing of this

plane. This crash took place in which

country? – Egypt

Explanation: A Russian aircraft

carrying 224 persons (including seven

crew members) crashed on 31 October

2015 in a remote mountainous region in

the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt. The

aircraft (Flight 7K9268) had taken-off for

Russia from Egypt‟s famous Red Sea

resort of Sharm al-Sheikh and it went off

radar 23 minutes after taking off.

The flight was an international

chartered passenger flight operated

by Russian airline Kogalymavia

(branded as Metrojet). It was en-

route to Saint Petersburg. Most of

the passengers were Russians

while four were Ukrainian and one

was Belarusian.

The wreckage was found roughly

100 kilometres (60 miles) south of

the North Sinai town of El-Arish. All

224 persons on-board this flight

were killed in the crash.

Shortly after the crash, Islamic State

(IS) claimed responsibility for the

incident. IS claimed this was in

revenge for Russian air strikes

against militants in Syria, where IS

controls territories, along with

contiguous Iraqi territories.

2) The 2015 Rugby World Cup (Men)

was won by which country on 31

October 2015? – New Zealand

Explanation: Final of the 2015 Rugby

World Cup was played at London‟s

Twickenham Stadium on 31 October

2015. New Zealand defeated arch rivals

and neighbors Australia by 34 -17 to win

the title. With this New Zealand has won

the Rugby World Cup thrice and has

become the most successful team as far

as Rugby World Cup is concerned.

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New Zealand was the defending

champions, having won the 2011

World Cup, and thus also became

the first-ever team to successfully

defend their Rugby World title.

Earlier on 30 October 2015 South

Africa defeated Argentina by 24-13

to win third place in the world cup.

2015 Rugby World Cup was held in

England from 18 September to 31

October 2015. It was the 8th edition

of the World Cup and saw

participation from 20 countries.

3) What is the name of the top-of-the-

line annual exercise of the Indian Air

Force (IAF) that commenced from 31

October 2015? – Livewire

Explanation: Livewire is the name of

the annual exercise of the IAF which

seeks to evaluate the operational

capability of the force in case of full-

fledged hostility. This exercise also

provides the IAF to check its latest

operational concepts in practical

environment.

Along with operational

requirements, maintenance as well

as administrative requirements are

also being tested in as close to the

likely real-time scenario as possible.

Apart from this, joint operations with

the Indian Army and the Indian

Navy are also part of the 2015

edition of Livewire.

4) Who was elected as the new

President of Tanzania in the recently

held election in the country? – John

Magufuli

Explanation: John Magufuli is a leader

of the ruling Chama Cha Mapinduzi

(CCM) party which won the Presidential

elections. He secured 58% votes in

these elections.

The Presidential elections in

Tanzania were held on 25 October

2015. In the presidential race, the

ruling party‟s candidate, John

Magufuli, was pitted against former

Prime Minister Edward Lowassa,

who defected to the opposition

earlier this year after being rejected

as the ruling party‟s candidate.

Lowassa (62), was Prime Minister in

President Jakaya Kikwete‟s

government from 2005 to 2008, but

was forced to resign by a corruption

scandal.

55-year old John Magufuli is widely

seen as a corruption-free, effective

public servant who could improve

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the ruling party‟s image in the eyes

of ordinary people fed up with state

graft. He is a trained chemist from

country‟s north-western Chato

district.

5) Which high ranking government

official was nominated in the Central

Board of the Reserve Bank of India

(RBI) by the Union Government on 30

October 2015? – Shaktikanta Das

Explanation: Shaktikanta Das is the

Secretary, Department of Economic

Affairs. He is a 1980 batch IAS officer of

Tamil Nadu cadre officer. His

nomination into RBI‟s Central Board

came to effect from 30 October.

RBI‟s Central Board is the highest

body of the RBI which takes

decisions with regard to general

direction of RBI policies. It is

headed by the RBI Governor and

has 21 members altogether. Four

Deputy Governors of the RBI and

two representatives of the Ministry

of Finance are also part of this elite

body.

Nov 2, 2015

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1) Indian Railway on 1 November 2015

launched a new pilot scheme under

which waitlisted passengers can get

confirmed accommodation in next

alternative train if they opt for the option

while booking their tickets online. What

is the name given to this unique pilot

scheme? – „Vikalp‟

Explanation: „Vikalp‟ is the name of the

new alternative train accommodation

scheme, which was launched on 1

November 2015 by Indian Railways. It

has initially been launched on a pilot

basis on two sectors – Delhi-Lucknow

and Delhi-Jammu.

Initially, Vikalp scheme will be

available only for the tickets booked

through internet for six months and

option will be limited to mail and

express trains on the two selected

sectors. As per the scheme,

waitlisted passengers of a train

would be given option of getting

confirmed accommodation in the

next train running on the route.

Passenger, if opts for the Vikalp

scheme while booking tickets

online, will get SMS alert on their

mobile phone about getting

confirmed accommodation in

alternative train. Railway aims to

achieve the twin objectives of

providing confirmed accommodation

to waitlisted passengers and ensure

optimal utilisation of available

accommodation by this scheme.

2) The 2-day talks to seek a diplomatic

solution to end the Syrian civil war were

held on 29-30 October 2015 at which

place? –Vienna (Austria)

Explanation: 11 countries met at

Vienna on 29-30 October 2015 with the

primary objective to seek a diplomatic

solution to end the Syrian civil war.

These 11 countries were – the United

States, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Turkey,

Iran, Egypt, Qatar, Lebanon, France,

Britain and Germany. Representatives

of the European Union also took part in

the talks.

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However, the absence of

representatives of the Syrian

government and the Syrian

opposition was conspicuous during

the talks.

It was the first time that Iran was

invited in talks pertaining to Syria.

The Syrian civil war, now in its fifth

year, has left 250,000 dead and

displaced more than half of Syria‟s

population of 22 million, according

to the United Nations. The war has

greatly contributed to European

migrant crisis. It also created a

power vacuum that allowed Islamic

State militants to seize large swaths

of eastern Syria and western Iraq.

3) What is the name of the new minister

inducted in the Uttar Pradesh Cabinet

by Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav on 31

October 2015, who came into news as

he was inducted in the Cabinet despite

him neither being a member of the ruling

Samajawadi Party (SP) and nor him

being a member of either of the Houses

in UP? – Balwant Singh Ramoowalia

Explanation: Balwant Singh

Ramoowalia is a former union minister

and a member of the Shiromani Akali

Dal (SAD). He was Union minister for

Labour Welfare in 1996 as Rajya Sabha

member and was two- time Lok Sabha

member for SAD.

But on 31 October he was

surprisingly included in the newly

reconstituted Cabinet of Uttar

Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh

Yadav. Yadav had expanded his

Cabinet a day after sacking 8

ministers of his Cabinet.

Ramoowalia‟s induction was

surprising because he had not

joined the Samajwadi Party till the

day of his induction. Apart from this

he is not associated with UP politics

in any way and is not a member of

either Houses of UP Assembly.

4) Which political party of the country is

planning to launch a call-taxi service on

the lines of cab aggregators like Uber,

Ola and Meru with the objective of

providing job opportunities to taxi

drivers? – CPI (M)

Explanation: CPI (M) leader and former

Rajya Sabha MP P. Rajeeve recently

announced that the party is planning to

launch a call-taxi service on lines of

leading cab aggregators like Uber, Ola

and Meru who have weaned away

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customers from conventional taxis. This

has resulted in huge job threat to taxi

drivers who are not associated with any

of the cab aggregators.

CPI (M) is planning the trial-run of

the call-taxi service from November

2015 and this will be done in

association with taxi unions. It is

worth mentioning that the drivers

affiliated to unions like CPI (M)‟s

CITU are now faced with loss of

work due to aggressive policies of

cab aggregators.

Party feels that due to low fares and

better, technology-based service of

the aggregators, conventional

drivers are losing customers to them

and this is resulting in conflicts

between conventional taxi drivers

and those of the aggregators.

5) Who won the Mexican F1 Grand Prix

on 1 November 2015, the event which

made its comeback to F1 circuit after 23

years? – Nico Rosberg (Germany)

Explanation: Mercedes‟ Nico Rosberg

won the Mexican F1 Grand Prix title to

score his first victory for more than four

months as he beat Mercedes team-mate

Lewis Hamilton (Britain) on 1 November

2015.

This was just the fourth win of the

season for Rosberg and this win

moved him back into second in the

championship behind Ferrari‟s

Sebastian Vettel (Germany).

Williams‟ Valtteri Bottas claimed the

third spot.

Mexican Grand Prix made its return to

the F1 season after 23 years with this

race. Last Mexican GP was held in 1992

and then the event was taken-off the F1

circuit from 1993 to 2014. The event

was first held as a non-championship

event in 1962 before being held as a F1

championship event from 1963-1970

and 1986-1992.

Nov 3, 2015

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1) China made an aviation history on 2

November 2015 as it unveiled country‟s

first big homegrown passenger jet off

the assembly line in Shanghai on this

day. With this China joined an elite

group of countries capable of making

large passenger aircrafts. What is the

name of this first Chinese passenger

jet? – C919

Explanation: China unveiled its first

large passenger jet C919 at a hangar

near Shanghai‟s Pudong international

airport on 2 November 2015. This 158-

seater passenger jet aims to rival

Boeing 737 and Airbus A320.

C919 has been developed by the

Commercial Aircraft Corporation of

China (Comac). Work on this

aircraft began in 2008 and the first

test flight of the aircraft is expected

to take place in 2016. However,

many of the plane‟s systems have

been provided by foreign

companies, including Honeywell

and Rockwell Collins.

Development of passenger jet by

the country is being seen as a major

achievement by the country. It also

has a huge symbolic value for the

Chinese Communist Party (CCP).

2) Which Indian automobile car

company has roped in Argentinian

football legend Lionel Messi as the new

global brand ambassador for its

passenger cars, as disclosed on 2

November 2015? – Tata Motors

Explanation: A senior officials of Tata

Motors confirmed that Messi has been

roped in to promote companies

passenger cars. Messi himself drives a

Range Rover whose manufacturer,

Jaguar Land Rover, is owned by Tata

Motors.

The company will now kick off a

campaign „#madeofgreat‟ on 3

November 2015 seeking to

showcase the confluence of two

global brands, Tata Motors and

Lionel Messi.

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3) Leading industrialist Brijmohan Lall

Munjal, who passed away on 1

November 2015, was the founder of

which Indian automobile behemoth? –

Hero MotoCorp

Explanation: Brijmohan Lall Munjal is

widely regarded as the father of the

Indian two-wheeler industry. He was the

founder of Hero Motocorp, the world‟s

largest two-wheeler manufacturer.

Born in 1923 in Punjab‟s Kamalia,

now in Pakistan, Brijmohan Munjal

and his brothers shifted base to

Amritsar in 1943 and then to

Ludhiana, where they gave shape to

their bicycle component business.

The business graduated to cycle

manufacturing and in 1975, Hero

Cycles became the largest cycle

producer in India.

Later Munjal inked an agreement

with Honda in the 1980s to

manufacture motorcycles in India.

Hero Honda was born as a result of

the 1984 agreement and the entity

ruled the motorcycle market in India.

In 2011, Hero parted ways with

Honda to create Hero MotoCorp.

Both Honda and Hero have grown

since then although Hero remains

the largest player with revenues of

Rs 27,500 crore in FY15.

He was conferred with the „Padma

Bhushan, India‟s third civilian

honour in 2005. He passed away at

the age of 92 at a Delhi hospital. His

last rites were performed on 2

November 2015.

4) MTS India, the wireless, broadband

and mobile communication service

provider, merged with which

telecommunications entity as

announced on 2 November 2015? –

Reliance Communications (RCom)

Explanation: MTS India is the joint-

venture between India‟s Sistema Shyam

TeleServices and Russian

telecommunication company Mobile

TeleSystems (MTS). The entity provides

a variety of wireless, broadband and

mobile communication services under

the brand name MTS.

On 2 November MTS India

announced its merger with Anil

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Ambani-led Reliance

Communications (RCom). The main

feature of this merger is that it has

resulted in RCom having overtaken

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio

as the holder of the biggest amount

of 800 MHz 4G spectrum in India.

800 MHz 4G spectrum is

considered most appropriate

because it can go inside houses

and buildings, unlike other bands

which are not very good for in-

building use.

5) What is India‟s position in the recently

released annual report on world‟s most

valuable nation brands compiled by

Brand Finance? – Seventh

Explanation: With a total brand value of

$2.1 billion India recorded a 32%

increase in its „national brand value‟ as

complied by Brand Finance for 2015.

Thus India moved up one position to

become the world‟s seventh most

valued „nation brand‟.

India is the second most valued

among these emerging economies

after China, followed by Brazil,

Russia and South Africa. It is only

country among the BRICS countries

to have witnessed an increase in its

brand value.

The US remains on the top with a

valuation of $19.7 billion, followed

by China ($6.3 billion) and Germany

at the second and the third positions

respectively. The UK is ranked 4th,

Japan is at fifth position and France

is sixth on the list.

The national brand valuation is

based on five year forecasts of

sales of all brands in each nation

and follows a complex process.

Nov 4, 2015

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1) Union Govt. held a meeting of Chief

Ministers of seven Naxal-affected States

on 3 November 2015 in view of

continuous incidents of Maoist violence.

This important meeting was held to

chalk out a strategy to fight the Naxal

menace and was chaired by Union

Home Minister Rajnath Singh. Which 7

Naxal-affected states were invited to this

meeting? – 1) Chhattisgarh, 2)

Jharkhand, 3) Bihar, 4) Andhra

Pradesh, 5) Maharashtra, 6) Odisha

and 7) Telangana

Explanation: The meeting discussed

overall Left-wing extremism (LWE)

scenario in 35 worst-affected states in

the said 7 sates. Altogether 105 districts

in 10 states are affected by Naxal

violence, of which 35 districts in seven

states are considered to be worst-hit.

The main agenda of the meeting

was – Action against mass front

organisations of the CPI (Maoist),

preparation of specific anti-LWE

operations plans and checking of

flow of funds to the LWE cadres.

The meeting formulated plans on

how to maximise the use of around

1,10,000 paramilitary personnel

currently deployed in Naxal-hit

states, monitoring of pilferage of

explosives and IEDs (improvised

explosive device), rehabilitation of

family members of persons killed in

LWE violence and investigation of

important cases against the

naxalites with the National

Intelligence Agency (NIA) and state

police forces.

2) Which railway station became the first

visually-challenged-friendly station in

India on 3 November 2015? – Mysuru

(Karnataka)

Explanation: Mysuru became country‟s

first visually challenged friendly station

on 3 November after many important

info-objects such as tactile maps of the

railway station and train schedules in

Braille were unveiled at the Mysuru

Railway station on this day.

Along with tactile maps of station

describing the location and distance

of entrance, platforms, counters,

washrooms etc., schedule of trains,

showing their arrival and departure

time, the authorities have also put

up 400 metal signages in Braille

along the railings of the staircases

leading various platforms. The

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menu cards at the canteen and food

plaza at the station are also being

made available in Braille.

Anuprayaas, an NGO assisted the

railways in make Mysuru railway

station blind-friendly.

3) Internet giant Google is poised to

partner BSNL on a pilot project for

providing Internet connectivity by using

large balloons. What is the name of this

project which uses big balloons floating

at a height of 20 kilometres above earth

surface for transmission of Internet

services? – „Project Loon‟

Explanation: Google has recently

approached Indian government to seek

permission to set up the „Project Loon‟

and Drone-based Internet transmission.

The govt. has approved testing of the

project as of now. A committee under

chairmanship of Secretary, Department

of Electronics and Information

Technology (DEITY), has been formed

to work on it.

Google is now poised to partner

with BSNL for testing this

technology by using broadband

spectrum in 2.6 Ghz band.

Google, under its „Project Loon‟, is

using big balloons floating at a

height of 20 kilometres above earth

surface for transmission of Internet

services. It has already tested this

technology in New Zealand,

California (the U.S.) and Brazil.

As per Google, each balloon can

provide connectivity to a ground

area about 40 km in diameter using

a wireless communications

technology called LTE or 4G. One

major advantage of this project will

be that it will not require mobile

towers for Internet transmission.

4) What is the latest outlook of global

Global rating agency Moody‟s with

regards to the Indian banking system as

disclosed by the agency on 1 November

2015? – It will remain stable over the

next 12-18 months

Explanation: Thus Moody‟s has

upgraded its outlook for the Indian

banking system to stable from negative.

This has been done on account of

gradual improvement in operating

environment.

It is worth mentioning that Moody‟s

has maintained a „negative‟ outlook

for the Indian banking system since

November 2011. Negative outlook

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was kept primarily due to

deteriorating asset quality of Indian

banks.

Moody‟s in its report, “Banking

System Outlook – India: Gradual

Improvement in Operating

Environment Drives Stable

Outlook,” said the stable outlook is

based on its assessment of five

drivers including improvement in

operating environment and stable

asset risk and capital scenario.

5) What is the name of the controversial

Chief Operating Officer (COO) of the

Indian Premier League (IPL) who

resigned from his post on 3 November

2015? – Sundar Raman

Explanation: Raman was a

controversial figure in BCCI-promoted

IPL and he had faced a lot of flak

following the outbreak of 2013 IPL spot-

fixing scandal involving former Board

President N. Srinivasan‟s son-in-law G.

Meiyappan and Rajasthan Royals‟ then

co-owner Raj Kundra. Despite all the

controversies, Raman managed to sail

through for two years.

In an effort to clean up the system,

the BCCI promptly accepted

Raman‟s resignation.

According to some media reports he

had been asked by BCCI President

Shashank Manohar to put in his

papers by 31 October 2015.

Nov 5, 2015

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1) Applications for buying sovereign

gold bonds of Govt. of India are being

accepted from 5 November 2015. The

ambitious scheme of sovereign gold

bonds instead of purchasing of physical

gold is being launched by which entity?

–Reserve Bank of India (RBI)

Explanation: Sovereign gold bonds will

be issued by the Reserve Bank of India.

They will carry the market value of

particular amount of gold it is issued. If

the price of gold increases the value of

the bond will also go up, thus benefiting

investors.

The applications for these bonds will

be accepted from 5 November to 20

November 2015 by the RBI. The

bonds will be issued from 26

November 2015.

Investors can buy a minimum of 2

units or 2 grams and a maximum at

500 grams per fiscal year. Investors

will get a fixed rate of interest of

2.75% per annum (payable every 6

months) on the initial value of

investment.

The bonds have a maturity period of

8 years, with exit option from the

fifth year. Holdings can be

redeemed in multiples of one gram.

2) Who will be the new Chief Justice of

India (CJI), as announced on 4

November 2015? – Justice Tirath

Singh Thakur

Explanation: Justice Tirath Singh

Thakur (Justice T.S. Thakur) will replace

Justice H.L. Dattu as the Chief Justice

of the Supreme Court on 2 December

2015. His name was recommended by

Justice H.L. Dattu on 4 November 2015.

However, his Warrant of Appointment

would be issued only after the President

gives his approval.

Justice Thakur is the senior-most

judge after Justice Dattu and his

appointment as the next CJI also

signals that seniority reigns

supreme in the highest judiciary

following the revival of the

Collegium system.

Justice Thakur will become 43rd CJI

of India and would be in office till 4

January 2017.

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3) The Odisha Government and Ministry

of Railways entered into a historic

agreement on 4 November 2015 that is

likely to lay the track for the first railway

line to reach one of India‟s most

backward districts. Which district of

Odisha is this, which is often described

as “District Zero” by the media? –

Nabarangpur

Explanation: Nabarangpur in southern

Odisha is often termed as one of the

most backward districts of the country.

Lack of rail connectivity is often listed as

the major reason for area‟s

backwardness.

On 4 November 2015 a path-

breaking agreement for setting up a

Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) for

constructing a 40-km link

connecting the Nabarangpur district

headquarters to the nearest station

at Jeypore in neighbouring Koraput

district was signed between the

Govt. of Odisha and Indian

Railways.

The said rail-link was evidently held

up for so long because it was found

to be economically unviable. Odisha

Govt. has decided to go for the SPV

model with the state government

contributing 51% of the project cost,

including land. This would result in

connect Nabarangpur district to rest

of the country.

4) World Economic Forum‟s (WEF) India

summit was inaugurated by Union

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley at New

Delhi on 4 November 2015. Participants

from across various fields engaged in an

intense one-day dialogue during the

summit. What was the theme of this

WEF India Summit? – „Delivering

Growth in the New Context‟

Explanation: The WEF India Summit

2015 witnessed participation of more

than 250 national stakeholders and

leaders from government, including 8

ministers, business and civil society.

The participants engaged in an intense

one-day dialogue looking at the fast-

changing economic, political and social

landscape in India.

The participants deliberated on

forces of change in India in the

context of five of WEF‟s global

challenges – a) agriculture and food

security, b) environment and

resource security, c) employment,

skills and human capital, d) long-

term investing, infrastructure and

urban development and e) financial

inclusion.

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5) Which US-based gaming company

will acquire King Digital Entertainment,

the creator of the iconic Candy Crush

Saga, for $5.9 billion, as disclosed on 3

November 2015? – Activision Blizzard

Explanation: Activision Blizzard is the

producer of world famous „World of

Warcraft‟ and „Call of Duty‟ games. It will

acquire King Digital Entertainment for a

cash-deal worth $5.9 billion. The

acquisition would make Activision

Blizzard a global leader in interactive

entertainment across mobile, console

and PC platforms.

Activision Blizzard is offering $18 in

cash for each King share, and the

deal is expected to boost

Activision‟s earnings by about 30%.

The „Call of Duty‟ series is one of

the world‟s best-selling console

games, while Candy Crush Saga is

among the most popular games on

mobile devices. Video game

publishers are switching from the

physical sale of games to digital

growth as consumers move from

consoles to playing on smartphones

and tablets.

King Digital Entertainment has

focused on a business model that

allows users to play a game for free,

but pay extra for additional features.

Nov 6, 2015

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1) T-Hub, a start-up incubator built on a

public private partnership (PPP) model,

was inaugurated on 5 November 2015

by industrialist Ratan Tata. This start-up

incubator, which is the largest in India till

date, has been established in which

city? –Hyderabad

Explanation: With opening of „T-Hub‟, a

brand new 70,000 square feet facility for

giving motivation push to start-ups,

Telangana capital Hyderabad has bid its

claim to become India‟s start-up capital.

This establishment expects to house

over 300 start-ups and have a futuristic

workspace for up to 800 people. The

Telangana government has invested Rs

40 crore to build this biggest incubator

facility in the country.

„T-Hub‟ is a PPP (public-private

partnership) between the

Government of Telangana, IIIT-

Hyderabad, ISB and NALSAR and

key private sector leaders. As many

as four angel networks, 30 seed

funds and 20 venture capital funds

have been roped in to participate in

accelerating the start-up activity.

2) IMPRINT India, an initiative to

develop a road map for research to

solve major engineering and technology

challenges in 10 technology domains

relevant for the country, was launched

by President Pranab Mukherjee on 5

November 2015. This is a joint initiative

of which prestigious institutions of the

country? – IISc (Bangalore) and 5 IITs

Explanation: Indian Institute of Science

(Bangalore) and 5 Indian Institutes of

Technology (IITs) have done extensive

consultations and arrived at specific

themes in each area of research that

has immediate social relevance. This

initiative has been named IMPRINT

India, where IMPRINT stands for

Impacting Research Innovation and

Technology.

IMPRINT India will motivate India‟s

technical institutions to conduct

research in 10 areas where the

country is heavily dependent on

foreign technology. These 10 areas

include health care, information and

communication technology, energy,

sustainable habitat, nano-

technology hardware, water

resources and river systems,

advanced materials, manufacturing,

security & defence and environment

& climate.

The idea of launching „Imprint India‟

originated during the conference of

chairmen, board of governors and

directors of IITs, convened by the

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President at Rashtrapati Bhavan in

August 2014.

It is based on the Prime Minister

Narendra Modi‟s suggestion that

research done by institutions of

national importance must be linked

with immediate requirements of the

society at large.

5 IITs involved in this initiative are –

IIT Kharagpur, IIT Kanpur, IIT

Roorkee, IIT Madras and IIT

Bombay.

3) An India-born former soldier was

inducted into the Cabinet of the new

Canada Prime Minister Justin Trudeau

on 4 November 2015. What is his

name? – Harjit Singh Sajjan

Explanation: Harjit Singh Sajjan was

named as the Minister of National

Defence in the newly constituted

Cabinet of Prime Minister Justin

Trudeau on 4 November 2015. Sajjan

was elected to Canadian Parliament for

the first time in last month‟s election.

Sajjan was born in Punjab (India) in

a Sikh family. His family immigrated

to Canada when he was five years

old. He grew up in Vancouver. He

joined Vancouver Police

Department and worked for 11

years and later became a regular in

Canadian Army. In 2011, he

became the first Sikh to command a

Canadian Army regiment when he

was named commander of the

British Columbia Regiment.

Sajjan‟s appointment as Defence

Minister is illustrative of the

younger, more diverse cabinet that

new liberal PM Trudeau had aimed

to create.

Sajjan will oversee an anticipated

change in Canada‟s military

involvement in the battle against

militants in Syria and Iraq. Newly

sworn-in Liberal Prime Minister

Justin Trudeau has already said he

wants to end Canada‟s air strikes in

the region in favour of providing

humanitarian help.

4) Maldives President Abdulla Yameen

declared a state of emergency in the

country on 4 November 2015. What is

the primary reason for declaring 30-day

emergency in the country? – Discovery

of explosive devices near President‟s

official residence

Explanation: The tiny Indian Ocean

nation of Maldives witnessed frenzy as

explosive devices were discovered near

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President Abdulla Yameen‟s official

residence in capital Male. There also

were reports that huge stashes of

weapons were stolen from army stores.

These incidents were perceived as a

threat to the public and the nation and

the govt. imposed 30-day emergency on

4 November.

It is also worth mentioning that the

emergency declaration came two

days before a demonstration

planned by the main opposition

party – the Maldivian Democratic

Party (MDP). MDP leader Mohamed

Nasheed was jailed in March 2015

after a widely criticised conviction

under anti-terror laws.

The Maldives has been rocked by

political infighting in recent weeks,

with Vice-President Ahmed Adeeb

arrested in connection with an

alleged plot to assassinate the

president by blowing up his boat.

5) According to an announcement made

by the New and Renewable Energy

Ministry on 4 November 2015 which US-

based solar power company won a bid

to sell solar power in India at a record

low tariff of just Rs. 4.63 per kilowatt-

hour? – SunEdison

Explanation: According to the

information disclosed by the Ministry of

New and Renewable Energy, Missouri-

based SunEdison won the auction for a

500 megawatt project in Andhra

Pradesh. What was remarkable about

this auction was that it was won for an

all-time low solar tariff of just Rs. 4.63

per kilowatt-hour.

The previous lowest solar tariff in

India was about 5.05 rupees per

kilowatt-hour for Canadian company

SkyPower‟s project in Madhya

Pradesh.

This bid is expected to give a big

boost to Prime Minister Narendra

Modi‟s push for clean energy to

combat climate change as falling

rates could unlock more

government support for solar and

wind energy. Japan‟s Softbank and

iPhone maker Foxconn have

already pledged to invest about $20

billion in solar projects in India.

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Nov 7-8, 2015

1) History was created on 7 November

2015 as the first-ever meeting of the

Presidents of China and Taiwan was

held on this day. Relations between the

two countries have remained strained

since China claimed sovereignty over

Taiwan in 1949. This historic meeting

was held at which place? –Singapore

Explanation: Chinese President Xi

Jinping and his Taiwanese counterpart

Ma Ying-jeou held a landmark meeting

in Singapore on 7 November 2015,

which was the first ever meeting

between top leaders of the two sides.

The meeting focused on relations

across the Taiwan Straits.

Relations between the two countries

have remained cold and tense since

China had claimed sovereignty over

Taiwan since 1949. This happened

after China‟s Nationalist government

fled to Taiwan after defeat by the

Communists. Chiang Kai-shek‟s

Kuomintang (KMT) nationalists

formed their own government in

Taiwan after Mao Zedong‟s

communists took power in Beijing in

1949.

The Chinese government claims

Taiwan as part of its territory and

threatens to counter any move to

outright independence by military

force. The relations between the two

countries worsened Taiwan lost its

seat at the United Nations (UN) to

China in 1971.

Ties with China have improved

under President Ma Ying-jeou,

whose Kuomintang (KMT) party is

seen as pro-Beijing. However, Ma

suffered a crushing defeat in local

elections last year, a result that was

widely seen as a rejection of

President Ma‟s push for closer ties

with China.

2) Union Govt. on 6 November 2015

imposed how much Swachh Bharat

Cess on all services? – 0.5%

Explanation: The Swachh Bharat cess

of 0.5% will be imposed on all services

now liable to service tax from 15

November 2015. The proceeds from this

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cess will be exclusively used for Swachh

Bharat initiatives.

Apart from this a 2% regional

connectivity cess on international air

travel and flights between metros

and big cities will also be imposed.

The cess for the creation of the

regional connectivity fund (RCF)

corpus will be levied from 1 January

2016 to enable the regional

connectivity scheme to start from 1

April 2016.

3) India and Russia started their joint-

military exercise named „INDRA 2015‟

from 7 November 2015. This is the

seventh edition in a series of annual

bilateral exercises between the two

countries. This joint military exercise is

being held at which place in India? –

Bikaner (Rajasthan)

Explanation: „INDRA 2015‟, the

7th edition of the annual series of joint

military exercises between India and

Russia commenced on 7 November

2015 at Bikaner. The exercise will

conclude on 20 November 2015.

The joint exercise this year focuses

on „Counter Terrorism Operations in

Desert Terrain under a United

Nations Mandate‟. The joint training

would also focus on ensuring a high

degree of physical fitness, tactical

drills, techniques and procedures.

During the exercise, participants will

engage in a variety of missions

including joint planning, cordon and

search operations, search and

rescue, joint tactical drills and

special arms skills. The exercise is

being conducted in two phases,

namely „Combat Conditioning &

Tactical Training‟ and „Validation‟

phases.

4) What is India‟s rank in the recently

released Transparency International‟s

Corruption Perceptions Index for 2014

which ranks countries on a scale for the

perceived levels of public sector

corruption? – 85 (out of 175 countries)

Explanation: In the study of 175

countries by anti-graft organisation

Transparency International, India was

ranked 85. The Corruption Perceptions

Index 2014 was released by

Transparency International on 6

November 2015.

India was assigned a score of 38

points out of maximum score of 100.

India‟s score grew by two points

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over last year‟s assessment.

Country‟s ranking was thus better

than China, which was ranked at

100th place with a total score of 36

points.

The Index rated Denmark as the

least corrupt country with a score of

92. Somalia and North Korea jointly

have been rated as the most corrupt

countries with scores of eight.

According to the information

disclosed by Transparency

International, not a single country

got a perfect score (100) and more

than two-third countries scored

below 50, on a scale from 0 (highly

corrupt) to 100 (very clean).

Corruption Perceptions Index

measures the perceived levels of

public sector corruption worldwide

based on “expert opinion” from

around the world.

5) Indian professional boxer Vijender

Singh continued his sensational foray

into professional boxing with a second

successive knockout triumph on 7

November 2015. In this bout he

knocked-out which British boxer in the

first round itself? – Dean Gillen

Explanation: Vijender humbled British

boxer Dean Gillen in the second fight of

his professional career by a knockout

win in just the first round. The bout was

held on 7 November at Dublin (Ireland).

Former Olympic bronze-medallist

Vijender had started his

professional career in style with a

technical knockout win against

Englishman Sonny Whiting.

Nov 9-10, 2015

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1) The results of the Bihar Assembly

Elections 2015 were declared on 8

November 2015 in which the Grand

Alliance of Nitish Kumar and Lalu

Prasad Yadav humiliated BJP-led NDA

front. The Grand Alliance comprising

Nitish Kumar‟s JD(U), Lalu Prasad

Yadav‟s RJD and the Congress

notched-up a stunning 178 seats

against 58 mustered by the NDA. With

this win, Nitish Kumar would become

Bihar Chief Minister for ………..time. –

Fourth

Explanation: Nitish Kumar has been

Bihar Chief Minister for three terms. His

first term was just for 8 days in March

2000 when he was part of the erstwhile

Samata Party. His second term was

from 24 November 2005 to 20 May

2014. On 16 May 2014 he had resigned

taking moral responsibility for his party‟s

poor performance in the Lok Sabha

Elections 2014. His third term was from

22 February 2015 as he succeeded his

former ally Jitan Ram Manjhi. Having

won a decisive mandate in 2015 Bihar

Assembly Elections, Nitish is poised to

become Bihar Chief Minister for fourth

time. He will now take oath after Chhath

festival, state‟s most prominent festival.

Results at a Glance : Bihar Assembly

Elections 2015 (Total Seats 243)

JD(U) Combine – 178

JD(U) – 71, RJD – 80, Congress – 27

BJP Combine – 58

BJP – 53, LJP – 2, RLSP – 2, HAM – 1

Others – 7

2) History was created in Myanmar on 8

November 2015 as country‟s first openly

contested national election in 25 years

was held on this day. The results of

these historic elections were declared

on 9 November in which Aung San Suu

Kyi‟s party emerged as the winner. What

is the name of this party? – National

League for Democracy (NLD)

Explanation: The elections held on 8

November 2015 were Myanmar‟s first

general elections since its long-ruling

military ceded power to President Thein

Sein‟s quasi-civilian government in

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2011. It is also believed to be country‟s

first free elections since 1990.

According to preliminary reports

Nobel-laureate Aung San Suu Kyi-

led National League for Democracy

(NLD) has won majority of the seats

in these elections. On 9 November

the opposition Union Solidarity and

Development Party (USDP)

conceded its defeat to NLD. The

military-backed USDP has been in

power since 2011. However, 25% of

seats are reserved for unelected

military representatives, who are

expected to side with the USDP.

Suu Kyi is barred from the

presidency as the constitution

disqualifies anyone with foreign

offspring. Her children are British.

3) West African country Sierra Leone

was declared Ebola-free by the World

Health Organization (WHO) on 7

November 2015 bringing huge cheer to

country‟s populace. With this, which is

the only country in the region still

affected with this deadly virus? –Guinea

Explanation: The ongoing Ebola

epidemic in West Africa primarily

affected three countries – Guinea,

Sierra Leone and Liberia. Other

neighbouring countries like Senegal,

Mali and Nigeria were also affected by

Ebola to marginal extent. But Liberia

and Sierra Leone have been officially

declared Ebola-free in 2015 and with it

Guinea remains the only country still

affected with it.

Ebola has killed over 11 thousand

people in West Africa since it was

first reported in Guinea in December

2013. This is the most widespread

Ebola epidemic in history. However,

with huge efforts on part of

governments, NGOs, WHO and

other organizations, Liberia was

officially declared Ebola-free first in

May and later September 2015. On

7 November Sierra Leone was also

declared Ebola-free. There are a

handful Ebola cases still in Guinea,

from where the epidemic started.

4) Global FMCG behemoth Nestle‟s

Indian subsidiary re-launched its popular

Maggi noodles in India on 9 November

2015. Maggi re-launch was done five

months after they were banned for

allegedly containing lead beyond

permissible levels. Nestle India has

partnered with which online company for

this product‟s rollout? – Snpadeal

Explanation: Nestle India began rollout

of Maggi noodles from 9 November and

for this the company has tied up with

online marketplace Snapdeal.

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Nestle India announced that all

samples of Maggi Noodles Masala

have been cleared by three National

Accreditation Board for Testing and

Calibration Laboratories-accredited

labs as mandated by the Bombay

High Court.

However, Maggi noodles will not be

available in eight states that have

banned its sale.

In June 2015, Food Safety and

Standards Authority of India

(FSSAI) had banned Maggi

noodles, saying it was unsafe and

hazardous for consumption after

finding lead beyond permissible

limits. The company had soon

withdrawn the noodles brand from

the market.

5) Y. Ramakrishna Reddy and Lakshmi

Kanta Reddy, two amateur

archaeologists, came to news recently

for discovering rock paintings belonging

to Mesolithic periods in Andhra Pradesh.

The paintings representing geometrical

designs are seen on a big boulder

executed in red ochre. This unique

discovery has been made in which

district of Andhra Pradesh? – Kadapa

Explanation: Kadapa district is in

Rayalseema region of Andhra Pradesh.

The discovery of paintings belonging to

Mesolithic periods was made at

Peddakona near Anantapadmanabha

temple in Kadapa district.

Ramakrishna Reddy, working as

conductor in the Proddutur bus

depot of AP State Road Transport

Corporation (APSRTC) and

Lakshmi Kanta Reddy, a police

constable in APSP battalion,

Siddhavatam, discovered these

paintings during their visit to a fort in

the region.

The paintings representing

geometrical designs are seen on a

big boulder executed in red ochre.

The lines painted in the shape of

rectangles, triangles and circles

denote abstract forms of some

animals.

Nov 11-12, 2015

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1) Union Govt. on 10 November 2015

issued letter of award (LoA) for setting

up a new electric locomotive factory in

Bihar to Alstom Manufacturing India

Limited. This new state-of-the-art plant

is being established at which place in

Bihar? –Madhepura

Explanation: The Electric Locomotive

Factory (ELF) at Madhepura will be

established as a joint-venture between

Ministry of Railways and Alstom

Manufacturing India Limited. For this a

new entity will be established as a joint-

venture between the two entities.

The factory would manufacture and

supply modern electric locomotives

of high horse power (HP), i.e.,

12000 HP. The plant will

manufacture and procure 800 such

locomotives in 11 years. The basic

cost of these 800 electric

locomotives will be Rs. 19,000

crore. The project requires only five

electric locomotives to be imported.

The balance 795 locomotives are to

be manufactured in India.

These High Horse Power (12000

HP) locomotives would be a

quantum leap over the existing 6000

HP locomotives used for freight

operations. These modern and

powerful electric locos will be useful

for heavy haul freight operations

and mega freight operations in the

Eastern Dedicated Freight Corridor

and all India operations.

Investment of Rs. 1,300 crore will

be done to establish this ELF.

Establishment of ELF at Madhepura

is expected to lead to substantial

development of ancillary

manufacturing units, generation of

direct and indirect employment and

substantial development in the

region.

2) Union Govt. on 9 November 2015

issued letter of award for setting up a

Diesel Locomotive Factory (DLF) at

Marhowra (District Saran) in Bihar.

1,000 diesel locomotives will be

manufactured at this DLF over a period

of 10 years. Which US-based company

has roped in for this joint-venture? – GE

Global Sourcing India Pvt. Limited

Explanation: GE Global Sourcing India

Pvt. Limited is the Indian subsidiary of

US conglomerate GE. This entity will

form a joint-venture with Ministry of

Railways for establishment for this

proposed DLF at Marhowra in Bihar.

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The DLF at Marhowra will

manufacture and supply modern

diesel locomotives of 4500 HP and

6000 HP to Indian Railways. The

basic cost of 1000 Freight Locos will

be about Rs.14,656 crore.

This project is expected to usher in

new technologies into the Indian

Industry at large through high paced

indigenization within first two to

three years of commencing

production. The move is also seen

as a giant leap forward in Union

Govt.‟s „Make in India‟ drive.

3) Union Govt. eased foreign direct

investment (FDI) norms for how many

sectors on 10 November 2015? –

Fifteen (15)

Explanation: The Union Govt. eased

FDI norms in 15 major sectors on 10

November and raised the Foreign

Investment Promotion Board (FIPB)

approval limit from Rs 3,000 crore to Rs

5,000 crore.

The major sectors in which FDI

norms have been relaxed included

defence, construction, civil aviation,

media, mining, broadcasting,

banking, agriculture and single

brand retail.

Within defence manufacturing, firms

can automatically increase foreign

ownership to 49%, without seeking

government approval.

In banking sector it will now become

easier for private sector lenders

such as Axis bank, Kotak Mahindra

Bank and Yes Bank to raise fresh

foreign capital, as foreign portfolio

investors can buy stakes of up to

74% on condition there will be no

change in control and management.

The government also eased rules

on sourcing for single-brand

retailers, particularly for high-tech,

and allowed them to sell online

without specific permissions.

4) RBI Governor Raghuram Rajan was

elected as the Vice-Chairman of the

Bank of International Settlement (BIS)

on 10 November 2015. With this he

became the first Indian central bank

Governor to become the vice-chairman

of BIS. BIS is headquartered in which

Swiss city? – Basel

Explanation: BIS is headquartered in

Basel, Switzerland, and acts as a

coordinating body among central banks

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to ensure global monetary and financial

stability. Its board comprises all central

bankers.

Rajan, who has been a vocal votary

for increased co-ordination among

central banks, was elected vice-

chairman of the entity and will have

a three-year term.

Rajan was appointed RBI Governor

amid a currency crisis in 2013 which

he was able to tackle soon after he

assumed charge. He has been a

strong critic of unconventional

monetary policies such as

quantitative easing and keeping

interest rates at near-zero level for

long.

5) In a major breakthrough the

Bangladesh Government handed over a

very prominent ULFA leader to India on

11 November 2015. What is the name of

this leader who is a founding member

and general secretary of ULFA? – Anup

Chetia

Explanation: Anup Chetia, a founding

member of United Liberation Front of

Assam (ULFA) and its general

secretary, is wanted for murder,

abductions and extortion in India.

He had sought political asylum in

Bangladesh thrice in 2005, 2008

and in 2011 after Bangladesh police

arrested him in December 1997 and

was subsequently handed seven

years of jail terms by two courts for

cross-border intrusion, carrying fake

passports and illegally keeping

foreign currencies.

Attempts for Chetia‟s secure

custody had been on for last two

decades and his return is likely to

weaken ULFA leader Paresh

Barua‟s position.

ULFA is the most prominent

separatist organization in Assam.

Nov 13-14, 2015

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1) What was India‟s retail inflation

(consumer price index) during October

2015, which was a four-month high, as

disclosed in govt. data released on 12

November 2015? –5.0%

Explanation: Consumer price index

based inflation, which is the primary

inflation gauge as far as RBI is

concerned, rose to 5% in October

versus 4.41% in the previous month

(September 2015). This was disclosed

in the data released by the Central

Statistics Office (CSO) on 12 November.

Rise in inflation was primarily due to

record increase in food products,

particularly pulses. Higher demand

for consumer durables and food

items during the festival season

beginning in October also

contributed to rise in inflation.

2) What is the name of India‟s newest

communications satellite that was

launched on 11 November 2015 and will

replace Insat-3A and 4B satellites? –

GSAT-15

Explanation: GSAT-15 is country‟s

latest communications satellite that was

launched successfully from Kourou in

French Guiana (South America) on 11

November 2015. It was launched by

Arianespace‟s Ariane VA-227 launch

vehicle.

It will replace the ageing Insat-3A

and Insat-4B satellites that are in

the same orbital slot when they

expire.

GSAT-15 has 24 transponders on-

board that will mainly cater to public

and private direct-to-home

broadcasters besides VSAT

operators. It is worth mentioning

that a majority of private operators

use capacity leased on foreign

spacecraft.

GSAT-15, including the fee to

European launch company

Arianespace, has cost over Rs. 850

crore.

3) In a historic development in Japan‟s

aviation history, country‟s first-ever

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passenger jet aircraft was successfully

flown on 11 November 2015. Which

Japanese conglomerate has developed

this aircraft? – Mitsubishi

Explanation: Japan‟s first ever

domestic passenger jet, which was

tested on 11 November is called

Mitsubishi Regional Jet (MRJ) and has

been developed by Mitsubishi Heavy

Industries. Its test run was completed at

Nagoya airport.

MRJ has two-engines, is

approximately 35 meters (115ft)

long and can seat about 80

passengers. Its maiden test flight

culminated a decade of

development for a programme

aimed at competing with other

regional passenger jet

manufacturers such as Brazil‟s

Embraer and Canada‟s Bombardier.

The plane marks a new chapter for

Japan‟s aviation sector, which last

debuted a commercial airliner in

1962 – the YS-11 turboprop, which

was discontinued about a decade

later.

Firms in Japan were banned from

developing aircraft by US occupiers

following its defeat in the 2nd World

War.

4) Delhi Govt. held first-ever “Yamuna

Aarti” on 13 November 2015. This

event, being initiated as part of

government‟s efforts towards cleaning

the river and promoting tourism, was

held at which Ghat on Yamuna? –

Kudesia Ghat

Explanation: The first-ever “Yamuna

Aarti” was held on the lines of the

famous Ganga Aarti held at Haridwar,

Rishikesh and Varanasi. Delhi Govt.‟s

Water and Tourism Department

organized this event and 11 priests from

Varanasi were invited to conduct the

event.

The aim of the event is to showcase

the cleaner and brighter side of the

Yamuna and also promote its banks

as a spiritual destination for visitors.

5) Which Indian private sector entity

bought a 40% stake in OakNorth Bank,

a British lender to small businesses and

entrepreneurs, as disclosed on 13

November 2015? –Indiabulls Group

Explanation: Mumbai-based Indiabulls

Group acquired a 40% stake in

OakNorth Bank, a British entity which

provides loans to small businesses and

entrepreneurs.

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Indiabulls, which has interests in

real estate development, financial

services and lending, bought the

stake through Indiabulls Housing

Finance, India‟s second-largest

private housing finance company.

The total cost of this acquisition is

66 million pounds ($100 million).

This major investment by Indiabulls

is expected to enable it to

accelerate and expand ambitious

growth plans to take on the major

banks in small business segment.

The announcement coincided with

Indian Prime Minister Narendra

Modi‟s maiden visit to Britain.

Nov 15-16, 2015

1) The 10th edition of Group of 20 (G20)

Summit started on 15 November 2015.

The event is being held in the shadow of

the terror attack in Paris two days ago.

Which city is hosting this prestigious

Summit, which is also being attended by

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi? –

Antalya (Turkey)

Explanation: Antalya, the southwestern

Turkish city known for breathtaking

views, is hosting the 2015 G20 Summit

on 15 and16 November 2015. The

Summit features 20 largest economies

of the world and includes all major

developed and developing economies.

The G-20 comprises of Argentina,

Australia, Brazil, Canada, China,

France, Germany, India, Indonesia,

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Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi

Arabia, South Africa, South Korea,

Turkey, United Kingdom, United

States and the European Union.

Heads of states of 6 countries have

been invited as guest

representatives to the Summit.

These 6 countries are – Azerbaijan,

Malaysia, Senegal, Singapore,

Spain and Zimbabwe.

French President François Hollande

is not attending the Summit due to

the Paris attacks of 13 November

and has sent Foreign Minister

Laurent Fabius and Finance

Minister Michel Sapin as his

representatives.

The economic agenda of the 2015

G20 Summit was completely

overshadowed by terror following

terror attacks in Paris and Turkey

over the weekend.

2) At least 129 persons were killed in a

massive terror attack on French capital

Paris on 13 November 2015. The attack

comprised of at-least 8 armed militants

who carried out firing sprees at some

most famous restaurants and a theatre.

What is the name of the theatre that

bore the brunt of this attack with over 90

persons killed here? – Bataclan Theatre

Explanation: The famous Bataclan

Theatre, situated in Boulevard Voltaire,

was the most prominent target of this

attack. The attack was carried out as the

American rock band „Eagles of Death

Metal‟ were playing a sold-out concert to

about 1500 guests at the theatre.

The attackers reportedly forced

people to lie on the floor and then

sprayed them with bullets, shooting

at anyone who tried to flee.

Two explosions were also carried

out near Paris‟ most prominent

football stadium – the Stade de

France. At that time a friendly

football match between hosts

France and Germany was being

played at the stadium and was

watched by French President

François Hollande and German

Foreign Minister.

Other attacks were at four

restaurant stadiums in the city. The

responsibility of the terror attack

was taken by the Islamic State (IS).

The attack was the biggest attack in

Paris since the Second World War.

3) What is the name of the Advanced

Torpedo Defence System developed by

the DRDO, which was handed over to

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the Indian Navy on 14 November 2015?

– „Mareech‟

Explanation: „Mareech‟ is a state-of-

the-art indigenous system for torpedo

detection and countermeasures. It has

been jointly developed by Naval

Physical and Oceanographic Laboratory

(NPOL), Kochi and Naval Science and

Technological Laboratory (NSTL),

Visakhapatnam. The system was

handed over to the Indian Navy by

Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar at a

function held at NSTL on 14 November.

It offers a complete solution to

detect and locate the incoming

torpedo and to apply

countermeasures to protect naval

platform against torpedo attack.

Two production grade Maareech

systems have been developed and

user evaluation trials completed

onboard two Indian Navy ships.

4) The Pentagon (US Defence

Headquarters) on 14 November 2015

announced that the head of the Islamic

State (IS) in Libya has been killed in a

U.S. airstrike. What was his name? –

Abu Nabil

Explanation: Pentagon Press Secretary

Peter Cook on 14 November claimed

that Abu Nabil (also known as Wissam

Najm Abd Zayd al-Zubaydi) was an Iraqi

national. He was a longtime al-Qaeda

operative and later, became the senior

Islamic State leader in Libya.

His death came days after an

American drone hit claimed the life

of the terror group‟s dreaded

executioner, Jihadi John. This

Pentagon announcement also came

as the Islamic State claimed

responsibility for 13 November‟s

attacks in Paris that killed at least

129 people.

The Pentagon expects that Nabil‟s

death will degrade ISIS‟s ability to

meet the group‟s objectives in

Libya, including recruiting new ISIL

members, establishing bases in

Libya, and planning external attacks

on the U.S.

5) Indian Badminton ace Saina Nehwal

lost to which Chinese player in women‟s

singles finals of China Open Super

Series on 15 November 2015? – Li

Xuerui

Explanation: The finals of the China

Open Superseries women‟s singles was

played on 15 November 2015 in Fuzhou

(China) between India‟s Saina Nehwal

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and Li Xuerui of China. While Saina was

the defending champion, Xuerui is the

reigning Olympic champion.

Xuerui defeated Saina in straight

games by 21-12, 21-15. Saina

couldn‟t match the speed and

precision of the reigning Olympic

champion Xuerui and despite taking

lead in both the games, she

squandered it some unforced errors.

Nov 17, 2015

1) French warplanes launched a huge

retaliatory assault on Islamic State (IS)

late on 15 November 2015. The attacks

were made at which Syrian city, which is

often known as the de facto capital of

IS? – Raqqa

Explanation: Raqqa (also called Rakka

or Al-Raqqah) is a north-central Syrian

city situated on the banks of Euphrates

River. It is the sixth largest city in Syria

with a population of over 2 lakh. The city

was captured by the militants of the IS in

2014 and is used as their headquarters

in Syria from there on.

10 French aircrafts dropped 20

bombs in Raqqa on facilities used

by the militant group Islamic State

(IS) which had claimed

responsibility for 13 November‟s

terrorist attacks in Paris. The

assaults were launched from bases

in the United Arab Emirates and

Jordan and were conducted in

coordination with U.S. forces, who

have compiled an extensive target

list in Raqqa.

It is worth mentioning that U.S.

planes have repeatedly struck in

and around Raqqa in recent

months. French Defence Ministry

claimed that they have targeted a

command center, a militant-training

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facility and an arms depot in the

city. The air assault was done just 2

days after the massive terrorist

attack in Paris on 13 November,

which claimed at least 129 lives.

2) On 16 November 2015 who was

named as India‟s new Permanent

Representative to the United Nations

(UN) to replace Ashoke Mukerji? – Syed

Akbaruddin

Explanation: Syed Akbaruddin is a

1985-batch officer of the Indian Foreign

Service (IFS) and has been the

spokesperson of the External Affairs

Ministry (MEA). He is currently serving

as an Additional Secretary in MEA.

He will succeed Asoke Mukerji. As

India‟s Permanent Representative

to the UN in New York,

Akbaruddin‟s main task would be to

push for India‟s bid to gain

permanent membership of the UN

Security Council (UNSC) as well as

to strongly advocate its position on

key issues.

3) Highly versatile actor Saeed Jaffery

passed away on 15 November 2015 at

the age of 86 in London. He was known

for his roles in some acclaimed films like

Satyajit Ray‟s „Shatranj ke Khiladi‟ and

Sai Parajpye‟s „Chashme-Baddoor‟. He

was the first Indian to be awarded which

prestigious British royal award for his

contributions to drama? – “Order of the

British Empire” (OBE)

Explanation: Some of the most

acclaimed films of Saeed Jaffery

included „The Man Who Would Be King‟

(1975), „Shatranj Ke Khiladi‟ (1977),

„Chashme Baddoor‟ (1981), „Gandhi‟

(1982), „A Passage to India‟ (1984), „The

Far Pavilions‟ (1984), and „My Beautiful

Laundrette‟ (1985).

He won a Filmfare Award for Best

Supporting Actor for his amazing

performance in Satyajit Ray‟s

„Shatranj ke Khiladi‟ in 1978.

His important TV appearances were

in „Gangsters‟ (1975–1978), „The

Jewel in the Crown‟ (1984),

„Tandoori Nights‟ (1985–1987) and

„Little Napoleons‟ (1994). „Tandoori

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Nights‟ was broadcasted on

Doordarshan also in 1988-89.

Some of his mainstream Hindi films

were „Masoom‟, „Ram Teri Ganga

Maili‟, „Ram Lakhan‟, „Khoon Bhari

Maang‟, „Dil‟, „Henna‟ and „Naseeb‟.

Saeed Jaffery was very well-known

abroad, having appeared in several

international movies. Some of the

prominent international stars he

worked with are Sean Connery,

James Ivory, Sir Richard

Attenborough, Michael Caine and

Pierce Brosnan.

4) During November 2015 which

separatist organization of the

Northeastern region of India was

declared a terrorist organization under

the provisions of Unlawful Activities

(Prevention) Act, 1967 by the Union

Govt.? – National Socialist Council of

Nagaland (Khaplang) or NSCN (K)

Explanation: NSCN (K) is a militant

organization active along the Indo-

Myanmar border. It was founded in 1988

by S.S. Khaplang, a separatist leader of

Nagaland, as an offshoot of the NSCN.

The organization has been known to

resort to terrorism by killing innocent

civilians and security forces and

engaged in other violent activities

including the June 2015 attack on

the Army convoy in Chandel district

of Manipur killing 18 armymen.

The Ministry of Home Affairs

announced NSCN (K) as a terrorist

organization in the gazette

notification of 6 November 2015.

5) India‟s first retail facility to provide

drugs for cancer and cardiovascular

diseases at highly discounted rates was

inaugurated on 15 November 2015 at

AIIMS, New Delhi. What is the name

given to this retail entity? – AMRIT

Explanation: AMRIT stands for

Affordable Medicines and Reliable

Implants for Treatment. It is the initiative

of the Union Health Ministry and it is

presently having 202 drugs of cancer

and cardiovascular diseases where the

price is 60 to 90% less than market

rates.

AMRIT is being managed by the

government-owned HLL Lifecare

Ltd (HLL), which will sell both drugs

and implants at significant discount

on market rates, based on authentic

prescriptions from doctors not only

to AIIMS patients but even to

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patients availing treatment at other

hospitals.

Nov 18, 2015

1) Which Indian institute recently

created history by becoming the first

from the country to make it into Top 100

list of the prestigious „Times Higher

Education (THE) Ranking for

Engineering & Technology‟ list 2015? –

Indian Institute of Science (IISc)

Explanation: Bangalore-based Indian

Institute of Science (IISc) was ranked

99th in the „Times Higher Education

(THE) Ranking for Engineering &

Technology‟, which was released during

November 2015. Thus this institute

broke India‟s poor ranking spell by

making its debut in the coveted list, that

remains dominated by US institutions.

THE is considered the most prestigious

list of world‟s top 100 universities for

engineering and technology.

IISc Bangalore is widely considered

as India‟s finest institution in its field

of scientific research and

engineering studies. It was

established in 1909 with significant

support from Jamshetji Tata. In

1958 it was given the status of a

deemed university.

US institutions Stanford, CalTech

and Massachusetts Institute of

Technology (MIT) were ranked top

three in the list. This was however a

very good year for Asian institutes

as they held 25 positions in the list,

up from 18 last year. On the other

hand US held 31 places, three down

from last year‟s 34.

2) The Board of Directors of ICICI Bank

on 16 November 2015 approved sale of

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6% of bank‟s stake in its subsidiary

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

Company. This stake is being sold to

which two entities? – Premji Invest and

Compassvale Investments Pvt Ltd

Explanation: According to the decision

taken by ICICI Bank‟s Board of Directors

on 16 November, 6% of bank‟s stake in

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance will be

sold to Premji Invest & its affiliates and

Compassvale Investments Pvt. Limited

for Rs. 1,950 crore. While Premji Invest

is the investment arm of Wipro

Chairman Azim Premji, Compassvale

Investments is a wholly-owned

subsidiary of the Singapore-based

investment company Temasek.

This transaction has thus placed

ICICI Prudential Life Insurance

Company‟s value at Rs. 32,500

crore.

Upon completion of the transaction,

ICICI Bank will hold around 68%

share of the company. Prudential,

ICICI Bank‟s joint venture partner,

will maintain its current share of

approximately 26%.

3) According to the information

disclosed on 16 November 2015,

Reliance Infrastructure Limited is

planning to sell a 49% stake in its

electricity generation business to

Canadian pension fund Public Sector

Pension Investment Board. This stake is

being sold in which Reliance entity

which is engaged in transmission and

distribution business in Mumbai and

adjoining areas? – Reliance Energy

Explanation: Reliance Energy is part of

Anil Ambani‟s Reliance Infrastructure

Limited. It distributes power to nearly

three million consumers, covering an

area of 400 sq. km., and catering to a

peak demand of over 1,800 megawatt,

with revenue of Rs. 7,700 crore in 2014-

15.

Reliance Infrastructure will utilize

money from the stake sale in the

power distribution business to

reduce debt. The company had a

debt of Rs. 24,645 crore, as of 30

September 2015.

The financial details of the proposed

deal have not been made public but

analysts expect the deal to be worth

about Rs. 3,500 crore.

4) Which global hotel group will acquire

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Inc. for $12.2 billion to create the world‟s

largest hotel chain, as disclosed on 16

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November 2015? – Marriott

International Inc.

Explanation: Marriott International Inc.,

after acquiring Starwood Hotels &

Resorts Worldwide Inc. for $12.2 billion,

will become the world‟s largest hotel

chain. It will have top hotel brands

including Sheraton, Ritz Carlton,

Starwood and the Autograph Collection.

The combined company will own or

franchise more than 5,500 hotels

with 1.1 million rooms worldwide

and give Marriott greater presence

in markets such as Europe, Latin

America and Asia including India

and China.

It is worth mentioning that while

Marriott is predominantly US-based

hotel group with around three-

quarters of its rooms in the US,

Starwood gets nearly two-thirds of

its revenue from outside the US.

5) Who won the Brazilian F1 Grand Prix

2015, the final of which was held on 15

November 2015? – Nico Rosberg

(Germany)

Explanation: Nico Rosberg of

Mercedes team defeated his British

teammate Lewis Hamilton to win his

successive F1 title. Hamilton has

already won the F1 title of 2015.

Ferrari‟s Sebastian Vettel

(Germany) was third while Force

India driver Nico Hulkenberg

(Germany) got sixth place to grab

eight points.

6) „The Magic of the Lost Temple’, which

is the name of a newly released

children‟s book, is the 25th book of which

noted author? – Sudha Murty

Explanation: Sudha Murty‟s 25th book

titled „The Magic of the Lost

Temple’ was released on 14 November

2015. This is the latest title in Murty‟s

over three-decade-long writing journey.

Sudha Murty, chairperson of Infosys

Foundation and wife of Infosys

mentor Narayan Murty is a prolific

writer in Kannada and English.

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7) Senior VHP leader Ashok Singhal

passed away on 17 November 2015 at

the age of 89. He had organized a

mammoth „Dharma Sansad‟ in Delhi in

which year, in which the movement for

reclaiming the Ram Temple at Ayodhya

was born? – 1984

Explanation: Vishwa Hindu Parishad

(VHP) had organized a huge „Dharma

Sansad‟ in 1984 at Delhi‟s Vigyan

Bhawan. Ashok Singhal was the key

organizer of this event and it was able to

attract notable number of Hindus and

sadhus from all over the world to

discuss the problems pertaining to

Hinduism. From here the seeds of the

Ramjanmbhoomi Temple movement

were sown.

Singhal was at the forefront of the

VHP‟s campaign for a Ram temple

at the disputed site in Ayodhya

where the Babri Masjid was

demolished on 6 December 1992.

The VHP is an affiliate of the BJP‟s

ideological mentor – the Rashtriya

Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Singhal passed away on 17

November at a Gurgaon hospital.

He was suffering from respiratory

problems for over a month.

Nov 19, 2015

1) What is the name of the controversial

Lokayukta of Karnataka who is poised to

become the first Lokayukta in the

country to be removed from his post by

Assembly after the process for his

removal was initiated on 17 November

2015? – Y. Bhaskar Rao

Explanation: Y. Bhaskar Rao, the

Lokayukta (or the anti-graft

ombudsman) of the state of Karnataka

has been in news for an alleged

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extortion racket in his office that involves

his son. He is on a long leave since July

2015 after his son Ashwin Rao was

arrested by the Special Investigation

Team (SIT) in connection with the case.

On 17 November 2015 the

opposition parties of the state

petitioned the Karnataka Assembly

Speaker K. Thimmappa to initiate

the process for removal of Bhaskar

Rao from his post. 46 members of

BJP and 37 of JD(S) signed this

petition. As per the provisions, at

least 72 members have to sign such

petition.

The process of the removal of

Lokayukta is a complex one as

mentioned in the provisions of the

Karnataka Lokayukta (Amendment)

Bill, 2015 that was passed earlier

this year. Y Bhaskar Rao, however,

has become the first Lokayukta

against whom such process has

been initiated.

2) Tata Steel on 18 November 2015

unveiled its first integrated steel plant in

the country in the last hundred years

after Jamshedpur. This plant has been

established in which place? –

Kalinganagar (Odisha)

Explanation: Tata Steel‟s first

integrated plant in India since the iconic

plant in Jamshedpur has been

established in Kalinganagar in Odisha‟s

Jajpur district. The plant was

inaugurated by Odisha Chief Minister

Naveen Patnaik on 18 November 2015.

Tata Steel has invested around Rs.

25,000 crore in the project. The

plant would add 3 million tonnes per

annum (MTPA) capacity in the first

phase and a total 6 MTPA with

completion of the second phase.

The company will source iron ore for

the project from its Khandbandh

mines in Joda.

However, the actual commissioning

of this plant will take a few days as

the blast furnace, sinter plant and

steel melting shop of the plant are

yet to receive clearance from the

Odisha State Pollution Control

Board.

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3) Which senior ICICI Bank woman

officer was appointed by Standard

Chartered as the CEO of its India

operations, as announced on 17

November 2015? – Zarin Daruwala

Explanation: 50-year Zarin Daruwala

was working as the President of

wholesale banking business in ICICI

Bank till now. She resigned from the

post on 17 November after she was

hired as the CEO of the Indian

operations of Standard Chartered.

Zarin Daruwala is a chartered

accountant and a company

secretary. She had joined ICICI

Limited in 1989 as a management

trainee and worked in almost all

verticals in the organisation that

later became a bank in 1994.

Standard Chartered is the oldest

foreign bank in India. Daruwala is

joining Standard Chartered at a time

when the bank is in the news for the

wrong reasons. It is axing 15,000

jobs worldwide, and some

retrenchment will take place in India

as well.

4) Three newspapers of Nagaland ran

blank edit pages on 16 November 2015.

What was the reason for this hard

move? – To protest against an

allegedly anti-freedom order of the

Assam Rifles

Explanation: Three newspapers of

Nagaland – the „Morung Express‟, the

„Eastern Mirror‟ and the „Nagaland

Page‟ on 16 November ran empty

editorial space to protest against the

alleged curbs on freedom of speech as

demanded by a paramilitary force – the

Assam Rifles.

The Assam Rifles in October 2015

had told editors of state newspapers

to stop covering rebel group

National Socialist Council of

Nagaland – Khaplang (NSCN-K).

This militant group has been fighting

for an independent homeland for

many years in a bitter battle against

Indian security forces. It was

recently banned and classified as a

terrorist group also.

Various factions of the National

Socialist Council of Nagaland

(NSCN) have negotiated and signed

ceasefire deals with the Indian

government since 1997. But the

NSCN-K has refused to sign a

peace deal.

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5) Anil Ambani Group‟s Reliance Power

has made its exit from which Ultra Mega

Power Project (UMPP) as announced

on 17 November 2015? – Tilaiya UMPP

(Jharkhand)

Explanation: The 4,000 MW Tilaiya

UMPP was one of the three UMPPs that

were intended to be established by

Reliance Power. The other two UMPPs

are Sasan and Krishnapatnam.

According to the pertaining reports,

at least 10 of the 18 buyers, who

had signed power purchase

agreements (PPAs) to procure

power from Reliance Power‟s

Tilaiya UMPP, have agreed to

terminate these PPAs. In April 2015

Reliance Power had announced that

its special purpose vehicle

Jharkhand Integrated Power, which

was to run the Tilaiya UMPP, had

terminated the PPAs with 18 power

distribution companies (discoms)

spread across 10 states, citing the

reason of delayed land acquisition.

Reliance Power would receive

compensation of around Rs. 800

crore from these buyers as well as

the ministry of coal.

This UMPP was awarded to

Reliance Power in 2009 at a

levelised tariff of Rs 1.77 a unit.

6) Which Australian fast bowler retired

from all forms of international cricket on

17 November 2015? – Mitchell

Johnson

Explanation: 34-year old Australian fast

bowler Mitchell Johnson bid adieu to

international cricket on the final day of

the drawn second Test against New

Zealand in Perth on 17 November.

With 313 wickets in 73 Test

matches, he is Australia‟s fourth-

highest Test wicket-taker after

Shane Warne (708 wickets), Glenn

McGrath (563 wickets) and Dennis

Lillee (355 wickets). He also took

239 one-day wickets.

Johnson was also a useful lower

order batsman, scoring 11 half-

centuries and one century during a

career run haul of 2,034.

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Nov 20, 2015

1) The Seventh Pay Commission

submitted its much anticipated report to

the Union Govt. on 19 November 2015.

The most important recommendation of

this Commission is hike salaries of the

Central Govt. employees by 16%. Who

headed the 7th Pay Commission? –

Justice A.K Mathur

Explanation: Justice A.K Mathur is a

former judge of the Supreme Court. He

was also the first Chairman of the

Armed Forces Tribunal.

He was made the Chairman of the

7th Pay Commission during February

2014. The other two members of the

Commission are – Vivek Rae

(former Secretary, Ministry of

Petroleum and Natural Gas) and Dr.

Rathin Roy (Director, NIPFP).

The Pay Commission is constituted

by the Central Government every 10

years primarily to revise the pay

scale of its employees. The

recommendations of Pay

Commissions are often are adopted

by states after some modifications.

Important recommendations of the

7th Pay Commission:

Recommended Date of

implementation: 1 January 2016

Minimum Pay: Rs. 18,000 per

month.

Maximum Pay: Rs. 2,25,000 per

month (for Apex Scale and Rs.

2,50,000 per month for Cabinet

Secretary)

In percentage terms the overall

increase in pay and allowances and

pension will be 23.55%.

Within this the increase in pay will

be 16%, increase in allowances will

be 63% and increase in pension

would be 24%.

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2) The Cabinet Committee on Economic

Affairs gave its approval for how much

stake sale in Coal India Limited (CIL) on

18 November 2015? – 10%

Explanation: The disinvestment plan

was announced by Coal and Power

Minister Piyush Goyal on 18 November.

He said that the Union Govt. is

expecting to mop up Rs. 20,000 crore

from the disinvestment in Coal India.

However, the date and price of the stake

sale is yet to be decided.

At the company‟s current market

capitalisation, a 10% stake sale will

fetch the government around Rs.

21,100 crore. This will be third

disinvestment in CIL‟s history.

If the government attains its target

amount from the Coal India stake

sale, this will go a long way in

meeting the disinvestment target of

Rs.69,500 crore for this financial

year. So far, the government has

been able to pare its stake in only

four companies – Power Finance

Corporation (PFC), Rural

Electrification Corporation (REC),

Dredging Corporation and Indian Oil

Corporation (IOC) – and has earned

only Rs.12,600 crore.

3) The 2015 Summit of the Asia Pacific

Economic Cooperation (APEC)

concluded on 19 November 2015. The

meeting of the 12-nation Trans-Pacific

Partnership (TPP) trade agreement was

also held on the sidelines of this

Summit. The APEC Summit for 2015

was held in which city? – Manila (The

Philippines)

Explanation: The 27th Summit of APEC

was held on 18 and 19 November 2015

at Manila (Philippines). It marked the

second time that the Philippines played

host to the APEC, having hosted the

event previously in 1996.

APEC is the forum of 21 Pacific Rim

member countries that promotes

free-trade throughout the Asia-

Pacific region. It was established in

1989.

The 21 countries that feature in

APEC are – Australia, Brunei,

Canada, Chile, China, Chinese

Taipei, Hong Kong, Indonesia,

Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New

Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru,

the Philippines, Russia, Singapore,

South Korea, Thailand, the United

States and Vietnam.

On 18 November US President

Barack Obama and 11 other world

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leaders met to reach out to discuss

the ambitious Trans-Pacific

Partnership (TPP) trade agreement

– a landmark deal that proposes to

create the world‟s largest free trade

area. This meeting, organized on

the sidelines of APEC, was the first

meeting of 12 TPP countries after

this landmark agreement was

signed on 5 October 2015.

The 12 countries that are involved in

TPP agreement are – Australia,

Brunei, Canada, Chile, Japan,

Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand,

Peru, Singapore, the United States,

and Vietnam.

4) Who was named as India‟s new

Ambassador to the People‟s Republic of

China by the Union Govt. on 18

November 2015? – Vijay Keshav

Gokhale (V.K. Gokhale)

Explanation: V.K. Gokhale is currently

the country‟s Ambassador to Germany.

He will replace Ashok Kantha as India‟

Ambassador to China when his term

ends in January 2016. Ashok Kantha

was appointed as envoy to China in

January 2014 for a two-year term.

Gokhale is a 1981 batch IFS officer

and is known to be one of the most

knowledgeable officials in Indian

Foreign Service (IFS). Before taking

up position in Germany as India‟s

top envoy, he has served in Indian

missions in Hong Kong, Hanoi,

Beijing and New York.

5) Over 17,000 employees of the

Reserve Bank of India (RBI) went on

strike on 19 November 2015 which

affected the settlement system in

country‟s banks. Why RBI employees

observed this strike, which was the first

at the central bank in six years? –For

better retirement benefits and to

oppose reforms at the RBI

Explanation: The strike by RBI

employees was observed in support of

better retirement benefits and to oppose

the proposed creation of a monetary

policy committee. The monetary policy

committee would include members of

the government and RBI employees see

this as a curb on the RBI‟s decision-

making powers.

It is worth mentioning that RBI

Governor Raghuram Rajan has

supported the creation of a

monetary policy agreement,

although details about its

composition have yet to be

announced.

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The last time RBI employees struck

work was in 2009, again for higher

pensions.

Nov 21, 2015

1) Nitish Kumar took oath as Chief

Minister of Bihar for the fifth time at a

glittering oath ceremony held at Patna‟s

historic Gandhi Maidan on 20 November

2015. Who was appointed as the

Deputy Chief Minister of the state? –

Tejaswi Pratap Yadav

Explanation: Tejaswi Pratap Yadav, the

26-year old son of Rashtriya Janata Dal

(RJD) chief Lalu Prasad Yadav, was

appointed as the Deputy Chief Minister

after he took oath as a minister. He took

oath immediately after Chief Minister

Nitish Kumar, who became Chief

Minister of the state for fifth time.

Tejaswi is the son and political heir

of Lalu Prasad Yadav. Yadav‟s

party RJD had made a grand

political comeback in Bihar

Assembly Elections where the party

garnered the highest 80 seats out of

243 seats.

Tejaswi‟s older brother Tej Pratap,

also became a minister in the new

Nitish Kumar government.

Portfolios

Tejaswi Yadav, who is now number

two in Nitish Kumar Cabinet, was

allocated Public Works Department,

Road and Construction and

Backward, Extremely Backward

Welfare portfolios. Tej Pratap

Yadav was given the portfolios of

Health, Minor Irrigation and

Environment and Forest.

Chief Minister Nitish Kumar retained

charge of Home, General

Administration and Information and

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Public Relations Department. Senior

RJD leader Abdul Bari Siddiqui was

given Finance while JD(U)

leader Rajiv Ranjan Singh

Lallan was allocated Water

Resources portfolio. Congress

leader Madan Mohan Jha was

allocated Revenue and Land

Reforms portfolios. State Congress

chief Ashok Chaudhury has become

the Education and IT Minister.

2) The committee, which was reviewing

the public-private partnership model

(PPP model) of infrastructure

development, has recommended

improving the financing of such projects.

Who was heading this committee on

PPP Model, which submitted its report

on 19 November 2015? – Vijay Kelkar

Explanation: The Vijay Kelkar

Committee to review the PPP model of

infrastructure development submitted its

report to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley

on 19 November 2015. The committee

was headed by Vijay Kelkar, former

Chairman of the Finance Commission.

The committee analysed the risks

involved and the existing framework

of risk-sharing between the project

developer and the government in

the PPP model and gave its

recommendations. The report of the

Committee has recommended

reviving the PPP model and

redesigning it by introducing best

international practices and by

improving capacity building.

During the consultation period,

leading infrastructure players had

pitched before the Committee for a

neutral regulator to look into all

issues arising in PPP projects

across sectors. The report of the

committee is being put into the

public domain soon.

Apart from its head, Vijay Kelkar,

the 10-member committee included

CS Rajan (Chief Secretary,

Rajasthan) SB Nayar (Chairman

and Managing Director, India

Infrastructure Finance Company

Ltd), Shekhar Shah (Director-

General, NCAER), Pradeep Kumar

(Managing Director, CBG State

Bank of India) and Vikram Limaye

(MD, IDFC).

3) Which state is poised to become the

first state in the country to enact a law

against social boycott after this state

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released a pertaining draft act on 18

November 2015? –Maharashtra

Explanation: The Maharashtra Govt. on

18 November published the draft of an

act called as the „Maharashtra

Prohibition of Social Boycott Act, 2015‟.

This act terms any action of social

boycott as a crime. With passing of this

act Maharashtra is poised to become

the first state in the country to officially

enact a law against social boycott.

The proposed act will work against

social boycott of individuals or

families by caste panchayats. The

act has recommended seven years

of imprisonment or fine of Rs. 5 lakh

or both if the accused is proven

guilty. As per the act, the trial shall

be completed within a period of six

months from the date of filing of the

charge sheet.

Maharashtra in recent times has

witnessed an increased number of

incidents of social boycott and

violence at the orders of seniors in

the caste panchayats, for not

adhering to their rules. Slain

rationalist Narendra Dabholkar too

had picked up the issue before his

murder in Pune.

4) The 10-day long International Film

Festival of India (IFFI) for year 2015

commenced at Panaji (Goa) on 20

November 2015. IFFI, which is country‟s

biggest film extravaganza, will feature

as many as 187 films in World Cinema

section. This is which edition of IFFI? –

46th edition

Explanation: The 46th edition of

International Film Festival of India (IFFI)

is being organized at Panaji (Goa) from

20 to 30 November 2015. The festival

was inaugurated on 20 November with

actor Anil Kapoor presiding over the

opening ceremony as the chief guest.

Matthew Brown‟s “The Man Who

Knew Infinity” was the opening film

of the festival, while world‟s third

Sanskrit film “Priyamanasam”

opened the Indian Panorama

section.

Spain has been selected as the

Focus Country at the IFFI-2015.

187 movies will be screened in

World Cinema section of IFFI-2015,

while 47 films will be shown in the

Indian Panorama section. The

festival will also be recognising

young talents under its new

segment „First Cut‟ to showcase

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some of the outstanding works of

debutante directors of 2015.

5) On 19 November 2015 BJP‟s

Prameela Sashidharan created history

when she was elected as the

chairperson of an urban municipal body

in Kerala. She thus became the first BJP

member to head an urban local body in

Kerala. She has become chairperson of

which Kerala municipality? – Palakkad

Explanation: Prameela Sashidharan of

BJP was elected chairperson of the

Palakkad municipality of Kerala as she

defeated UDF candidate Priya in

the election that was held on 19

November following the recent civic

polls. Earlier BJP had emerged as the

single-largest party in the civic polls by

winning 24 seats in the 52-member

municipal council. Although the party

failed to get a simple majority.

51-year old Prameela Sashidharan

thus became the first BJP member

ever to head an urban municipal

body in Kerala. She took oath as

chairperson of Palakkad

municipality in a function held on 19

November.

Palakkad, bordering Coimbatore in

Tamil Nadu, is considered to be the

gateway to Kerala.

6) A 1,111 carat high quality diamond,

which is said to be the largest diamond

found in over a century, has been found

in which African country? – Botswana

Explanation: Lucara Diamond Corp, a

Swedish company, on 19 November

2015 claimed that it has discovered a

1,111 carat high quality diamond from

one of its mines in Botswana that is the

world second largest gem quality

diamond ever recovered. It also claimed

that this diamond is the largest ever

diamond found in over 110 years.

This newly found diamond is only

second in size to the famous

„Cullinan‟ diamond. „Cullinan‟

weighs 3,106-carat and was found

near Pretoria (South Africa) in 1905.

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Nov 22-23, 2015

1) In an important development, leaders

of 10-nation group ASEAN declared the

establishment of an EU-style regional

economic bloc. This decision was taken

at the 2015 ASEAN Summit that

concluded in Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia)

on 22 November 2015. What is the

name chosen for this proposed regional

economic bloc? – ASEAN Economic

Community (AEC)

Explanation: The decision to establish

ASEAN Economic Community (AEC)

was taken at the 27th ASEAN Summit

(for 2015) that concluded at Malaysian

capital Kuala Lumpur on 22 November.

The declaration to establish AEC was

signed by the leaders of 10-nation

grouping in front of world leaders

including Prime Minister Narendra Modi

and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-

moon.

The AEC envisages a single market

with a free flow of goods, capital

and skilled labour across borders in

the highly competitive economic

region. It will integrate Southeast

Asia‟s diverse economies, a region

with 620 million people and a

combined gross domestic product of

$2.4 trillion.

The ASEAN leaders also adopted

the declaration on “ASEAN 2025,

forging ahead together”. The

ASEAN 2025 document charts the

path for the AEC building over the

next ten years.

ASEAN grouping includes Brunei,

Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos,

Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines,

Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

2) Which landmark broad gauge rail line

in Assam was inaugurated by Union

Railways Minister on 21 November

2015, which brought the strategically

important Barak Valley on the broad

gauge map of the Railway? – Silchar-

Lumding

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Explanation: The Silchar-Lumding is

considered a landmark broad gauge rail

line in Assam as it is expected to

accelerate development in state‟s

underdeveloped but strategically

important Barak Valley. This rail-link will

also provide immensely beneficial for

the states of Tripura, Manipur and

Mizoram.

The line passes through 21 tunnels

and has 75 major bridges and 340

minor bridges along the track.

The Lumding-Silchar Gauge

Conversion Project under the

Northeast Frontier Railway was

sanctioned in 1996-97 and was

declared a National Project in 2004.

The project was hit by insurgency

from 2006 to 2009. The Territorial

Army had to be deployed to take on

the insurgents.

3) African country Mali was site of a

hostage drama and mass shooting at a

hotel on 20 November 2015, which

resulted in the death of at-least persons.

Which Islamic militant organization

claimed responsibility for this attack? –

Al-Mourabitoun

Explanation: Around 4-5 gunmen

belonging to the Islamic militant group

Al-Mourabitoun stormed Hotel Radisson

Blu in Bamako, the capital city of African

country Mali on 20 November 2015.

They took over 170 people in the hotel

as hostages after carrying out a firing

spree. Later Malian Special Forces

stormed into the hotel and the hostage

drama unfolded after hostilities between

militants and the security forces. Malian

govt. claimed that 19 persons died in the

attack and this included 17 foreigners.

Al-Mourabitoun claimed

responsibility for the attack, while

the claim was not verified initially. It

claimed that the attack was carried

out jointly with al-Qaeda in the

Islamic Maghreb (AQIM). It is worth

mentioning that Al-Mourabitoun is

made up of Tuaregs and Arabs from

northern Mali and is affiliated with

AQIM. The group, led by Mokhtar

Belmokhtar, formed in 2013 and is

based in the Sahara Desert.

Following a military coup in 2012,

Islamic extremists took control of

northern Mali, prompting a French-

led military intervention in early

2013.

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4) The legendary Windows operating

system completed how many years of

its launch on 20 November 2015? – 30

years

Explanation: Windows 1.01, the first-

ever operating system of the iconic

Windows series was launched on 20

November 1985. Windows 1.0 offered a

new way to navigate a PC, clicking a

cursor on various boxes rather than

scrolling through lines of text in order to

navigate data and applications. While

arguably less efficient than a command

line, the graphical user interface (GUI)

was more intuitive and easier for novice

users to manage.

With the launch of the first-ever

version of Windows, Microsoft

started its journey to ultimately

become the most successful OS

company in the highly competitive

world of PCs. Windows 1.01,

however, was not exactly a stirring

success. But without doubt it was

the foundation stone to the

immense Windows edifice that was

to come.

The first highly successful Windows-

based OS was Windows 3.11

5) Who was elected as the new

President of industry body – the

Federation of Indian Chambers of

Commerce and Industry (FICCI) on 20

November 2015? – Harshavardhan

Neotia

Explanation: Harshavardhan Neotia,

Chairman of Ambuja Neotia group, was

elected as the new President of FICCI

on 20 November. He will take over from

the current FICCI President Jyotsna Suri

during the chamber‟s AGM in December

2015.

Neotia, a „Padma Shri‟ awardee, is

also a member of the Rajasthan

Chief Minister‟s Advisory Council

and West Bengal Chief Minister‟s

Core Committee on Industry.

FICCI is the largest and oldest trade

and business organization in India.

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Nov 24-25, 2015

1) World‟s biggest ever merger in the

healthcare sector was announced on 23

November 2015 in which Botox-maker

Allergan Plc. will be bought for about

$160 billion. Which US healthcare giant

will acquire Allergan? – Pfizer Inc.

Explanation: The acquisition of

Allergan Plc. by Pfizer Inc. for about

$160 billion is the biggest ever deal in

the healthcare sector.

Apart from male libido drug Viagra and

cholesterol drug Lipitor, Pfizer‟s major

drugs include nerve pain treatment

Lyrica and Prevnar, a treatment for

pneumonia. Allergan, best known for its

anti-wrinkle treatment Botox, also

makes Alzheimer‟s drug Namenda and

dry-eye medication Restasis.

New York-based Pfizer will shift its

legal base to Ireland after this deal

so as to reduce its tax rate. Allergan

Plc. has its headquarters in Ireland.

The tax aspect of the deal has been

seen as critical. The US corporate

tax rate of 35% is among the world‟s

highest, and compares with

Ireland‟s rate of 12.5%.

The businesses of Pfizer and

Allergan will be combined under

Allergan Plc., which will be renamed

Pfizer Plc. Pfizer Chief Executive

Ian Read will be CEO of the

combined company, while Allergan

CEO Brent Saunders will be Chief

Operating Officer (COO).

2) Which multinational life insurance

company during increased its stake in

Anil Ambani‟s Reliance Life Insurance

from 26% to 49%, as announced on 24

November 2015? – Nippon Life

Insurance (Japan)

Explanation: Japan‟s Nippon Life

Insurance acquired 23% additional

stake in Reliance Life Insurance for

₹2,265 crore to increase its stake in the

company from 26% to 49%. The

transaction thus pegged Reliance Life

Insurance‟s valuation at about ₹10,000

crore.

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Nippon Life Insurance has so far

invested an aggregate of Rs. 5,327

crore for acquiring 49 per cent of

Reliance Life Insurance. In addition,

the Japanese company has also

committed an investment of ₹3,303

crore for acquiring 49% stake in

Reliance Capital Asset

Management, taking its total

investment to ₹8,630 crore.

In line with the new shareholding

structure, the name of the company

will also be changed to Reliance

Nippon Life Insurance Company

Limited.

3) Which senior Congress leader won

the Ratlam-Jhabua Lok Sabha seat from

Madhya Pradesh by snapping it from the

BJP as declared in the by-election

results announced on 24 November

2015? – Kantilal Bhuria

Explanation: Kantilal Bhuria is a senior

Congress leader and former Union

Minister from MP and had represented

Ratlam-Jhabua Lok Sabha seat six

times in a row. However, he had lost to

Dileep Singh Bhuria 2014 Lok Sabha

elections. But Dileep Singh‟s death

necessitated the by-election.

The BJP gave the ticket to Petlawad

MLA Nirmala Bhuria, daughter of

Dileep Singh Bhuria. But she lost to

Kantilal Bhuria by over 80,000

votes. The loss of BJP in Ratlam-

Jhabua is being seen as a setback

to MP Chief Minister Shivraj Singh

Chouhan.

The BJP was, however, successful

in retaining the Dewas seat in MP.

BJP‟s Gayatri Raje Puar won the

bypoll from Dewas Assembly seat

by a margin of 30,778 votes,

defeating Congress‟ Jai Prakash

Shastri.

The bypoll was necessitated by the

death of Gayatri‟s husband Tukoji

Rao Puar of erstwhile royal family of

Dewas.

On the other Lok Sabha seat, for

which by-election was held, was

won by the Telangana Rashtra

Samithi (TRS). The ruling TRS party

won the Warangal Lok Sabha seat

in Telangana by-elections as its

candidate P. Dayakar defeated his

nearest rival Congress candidate S.

Satyanarayana by a record margin

of 4,59,092 votes. The BJP- TDP

combine finished at third position.

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4) The BJP made its debut in the

Assembly of which Northeastern state

as announced in the assembly by-

elections on 24 November 2015? –

Manipur

Explanation: BJP‟s Khumukcham

Joykishan and Thongam Biswajit Singh

won assembly elections for the party to

make the first-ever entry in state‟s

Assembly. The party won both the

Assembly by-elections – Khumukcham

Joykishan defeated the Congress

party‟s Jyotin Waikhom in

Thangmeiband by over 1700 votes while

Thongam Biswajit Singh defeated the

Congress‟s Bijoy Koingjam in Thongju.

The BJP now has two legislators in

the 60-member Manipur Assembly.

The Congress rules the state.

On the other hand, Lal Thanzara of

the Congress retained the Aizwal

North III seat in Mizoram, while

Diosstarness Jyndiang of the Hill

State People‟s Democratic Party

won Nongstoin in Meghalaya.

5) Who emerged as the winner in the

recent Argentinian Presidential elections

that ended the 12-year rule of the

Peronist Party? – Mauricio Macri

Explanation: Mauricio Macri, the leader

of the leader of the Argentina‟s centre-

right opposition Conservative party was

confirmed as the winner in Argentina‟s

presidential elections after his ruling

party opponent Daniel Scioli conceded

his defeat. Macri won around 51.5%

votes to Scioli‟s 48.5%.

The result was declared after a run-

off election was held between the

two rivals on 22 November 2015,

the first in the country‟s history. The

run-off was necessitated as Scioli

did not command enough of a lead

to win the first round of Presidential

elections held on 25 October 2015.

The win of Mauricio Macri ended the

12-year regime of the Peronist Party

led by President Cristina Fernández

de Kirchner. Kirchner was re-

elected as the President in 2011.

Before her two terms her late

husband Nestor Kirchner was

country‟s President. But since

Argentinian Constitution doesn‟t

allow more than two consecutive

terms, Daniel Scioli was handpicked

as Kirchner‟s choice for the post of

President.

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Nov 26, 2015

1) Which new global regulation for

passport usage as mandated by the

International Civil Aviation Organization

(ICAO) came to force from 25

November 2015? – From this date the

use of non-machine readable

(handwritten) passports has been

invalidated

Explanation: Beginning 25 November

2015, non-machine readable

(handwritten) passports have been

invalidated as per guidelines issued by

the ICAO earlier. It is worth mentioning

that there is no data available of people

who hold these kinds of passports. This

means that only machine-readable

passports (MRPs) will be accepted and

visas will be issued against such

passports only.

Handwritten or non-MRP passports

were issued before 2001, and are

being phased out in many countries.

The ICAO regulation means that

those whose passports with 20-year

validity extend beyond 25

November 2015 will also have to

renew their passports.

A machine-readable

passport (MRP) is a machine-

readable travel document (MRTD),

where the data on the identity page

is encoded in optical character

recognition format.

2) In a major international controversy,

which NATO member country shot down

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a Russian warplane near the Syrian

border on 24 November 2015? –

Turkey

Explanation: The shooting down of the

Russian Su-24 warplane by Turkey

became one of the most serious publicly

acknowledged clashes between a

NATO member country and Russia for

half a century.

In a letter to the U.N. Security

Council, Turkey said it had shot

down the jet while in Turkish air

space. Along with a second plane,

the aircraft had flown more than a

mile into Turkey for 17 seconds,

despite being warned 10 times in

five minutes while approaching to

change direction. Of the two

Russian pilots in the warplane, one

was killed while the other was

rescued by a Syrian commando

unit.

On the other hand Russian

President Vladimir Putin said the

plane had been attacked when it

was 1 km inside Syria and warned

of “serious consequences” for

Turkey. Each country summoned a

diplomatic representative of the

other. Russia‟s Foreign Minister

Sergei Lavrov canceled a visit to

Turkey due on 25 November.

Later Russia also cancelled all

military cooperation exercises with

Turkey on 25 November.

3) How much increase in non-

performing assets (NPAs) was reported

over the 12-month period ending

September 2015 by 37 banks led by

prominent public sector banks, as

disclosed by credit rating CARE on 24

November 2015? – 26.8%

Explanation: The 26.8% increase in

NPAs of country‟s banks during the 12-

month period ending September 2015 is

nearly 10% rise from the 16.9% growth

in bad loans over the same period a

year ago.

While the overall NPAs now amount

to Rs. 3,36,685 crore, the rise in the

last 12 months ended September

2015 was Rs. 71,000 crore.

Among the big banks, the bad loans

of Bank of India soared from Rs.

14,127 crore to Rs. 29,893 crore, of

Bank of Baroda from Rs. 13,057

crore to Rs. 23,710 crore, and of

Indian Overseas Bank from Rs.

13,333 crore to Rs. 19,423 crore.

The only silver lining is SBI, India‟s

largest bank, whose asset quality

improved, with gross NPAs as a

percentage of gross advances

falling 74 bps to 4.15% (Rs. 56,834

crore) from 4.89% (Rs. 60,712

crore).

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4) What is the name of the proposed Rs.

1.1 lakh crore railway safety fund that is

being established by the Indian

Railways with the objective of improving

safety measures and upgrading railway

infrastructure? – Rashtriya Rail

Sanraksha Kosh (RRSK)

Explanation: Indian Railways is

presently working on a proposal to

create a huge Rs. 1.1 lakh crore fund by

the name Rashtriya Rail Sanraksha

Kosh (RRSK) that will be used to

implement its drive to upgrade the

creaking rail infrastructure.

The rail ministry has set up a six-

member committee headed by the

executive director of the planning

directorate to prepare a blueprint for

the scheme, including sources of

the fund and areas in which it will be

utilised.

One of the major projects envisaged

under the proposed RRSK is

elimination of unmanned level

crossings and replacing the old

signalling and telecom infrastructure

which are responsible for more than

a half of train accidents.

5) Union Govt. reduced the deadline of

rural connectivity through all- weather

roads under Pradhan Mantri Gram

Sadak Yojana (PMGSY) by how many

years from the earlier set target of 2022,

as announced by the Union Govt. on 24

November 2015? – 3 years

Explanation: With the reduction of the

deadline by 3 years, the new deadline of

rural connectivity through all- weather

roads under PMGSY is year 2019. The

government has also decided to

increase the annual allocation of the

Central release for PMGSY works

during year 2015-16 by Rs 5,000 crore

and with this the total Central allocation

to states would now be Rs 15,100 crore.

It was Rs. 9960 crore during 2014-

15, Rs 5196 crore in 2013-14 and

Rs 4313 crore in 2012-13.

PMGSY was launched in year 2000

as a Centrally Sponsored Scheme

with the objective to provide single

all-weather road connectivity to all

eligible unconnected rural

habitations.

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Nov 28, 2015

1) Which national day was observed for

the first time ever on 26 November

2015? – Constitution Day

Explanation: The first-ever „Constitution

Day‟ was observed on 26 November to

mark the day in 1949 when the

Constitution of Indian was adopted by

the Constituent Assembly.

The Constitution Day also serves as

a day of tribute to Dr. B. R.

Ambedkar, who played a seminal

role in the framing of the Indian

Constitution as the Chairman of the

Drafting Committee of Constituent

Assembly. Ambedkar‟s 125th Birth

Anniversary is also being celebrated

this year.

On this occasion a special session

of the Indian Parliament was

organized. Apart from this the

recitation of the „Preamble to the

Constitution‟ was done at many

Central and state government

offices and numerous schools.

2) Which giant IT company issued its

final quarterly earnings on 24 November

2015 before it being split into two

companies? – Hewlett-Packard (HP)

Explanation: US computer giant HP

has already been split into two

companies with effect from 1 November

2015. But it issued its final quarterly

earnings as a unified tech conglomerate

on 24 November 2015, showing another

drop in sales for most of its business

divisions.

On 6 October 2014, HP announced

plans to split the PC and printers

business from its enterprise

products and services business.

The PC and printers business has

been named HP Inc. while

enterprise products and services

business is known as HP

Enterprise.

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HP was established in 1939 by Bill

Hewlett and Dave Packard in a

garage owned by Packard. The

company is headquartered at Palo

Alto, California. It was officially

incorporated on 18 August 1947.

HP went on to become an IT giant a

wide variety of hardware

components as well as software.

The company was world‟s no. 1 PC

maker from 2007 to 2013 but later

lost the coveted crown to Lenovo.

3) As per the announcement made by

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on 26

November 2015, liquor prohibition will

be clamped in the state from which

date? – 1 April 2016

Explanation: CM Nitish Kumar made

the announcement regarding liquor

prohibition as part of his election pledge

at an official function to mark Prohibition

Day on 26 November. In July 2015,

Nitish Kumar had declared that

prohibition would be imposed if he

retained power in the assembly

elections. The BJP announced its full

support to liquor ban.

The CM said the poorest of the poor

had been consuming liquor, badly

hitting their families and their

children‟s education. The women

are suffering more than anyone else

due to increasing liquor

consumption.

However, the decision is expected

to derail the government‟s financial

health. The revenue collection of

excise department were Rs.3,650

crore in 2014-15 from liquor sale.

4) In an important development, the

cricket boards of India and Pakistan

agreed to play a short bilateral series in

a neutral country from 15 December.

The much-anticipated proposed series

between the two arch-rivals is to be

played at which neutral country as

announced on 26 November 2015? –

Sri Lanka

Explanation: The confirmation of the

series was announced on 26 November

2015 after the Pakistan Cricket Board

(PCB) obtained green signal from their

government and the Board of Control for

Cricket in India (BCCI) also looked

ready to be part of this series. However,

a formal confirmation of the series was

not done as the BCCI is awaiting green

signal from the Union government of

India.

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Giles Clarke of England and Wales

Cricket Board (EWCB) is

understood to have played the role

of a mediator. The Englishman is

also the head of the International

Cricket Council (ICC) taskforce on

Pakistan. Clarke has always been in

favour of a series between the sub-

continental giants.

The proposed series will comprise

of three ODIs and two Twenty20

internationals and will start from 15

December. Pakistan and India have

not played a bilateral series since

2007. Cricketing ties were stalled in

the aftermath of 2008 terrorists‟

attacks in Mumbai.

5) Which 5 investment banks were on

26 November 2015 chosen to manage

the government‟s proposed 10% stake

sale in state-controlled Coal India

Limited (CIL)? –SBI Capital, ICICI

Securities, Axis Capital, JM Financial

and Kotak Investment Banking

Explanation: The 10% stake sale in

CIL, valued at about $3.2 billion at the

current stock price, is part of Union

Govt.‟s aim to raise 695 billion rupees

($11 billion) by March 2016 from selling

minority stakes in government-owned

companies.

Nov 28, 2015

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1) Test cricket history was made on 27

November 2015 when the first Day-

Night Test match commenced between

Australia and New Zealand from this

day. This historic Test match is being

staged at which cricket ground in

Australia? –The Adelaide Oval

Explanation: The first-ever Day-Night

Test Match started on 27 November

between hosts Australia and New

Zealand at the Adelaide Oval cricket

ground in Adelaide. The match featured

pink leather balls and bright flood lights.

However, the clothing for players

remained white

The Day-Night Test match was thus

a big departure from tradition, with

the relatively untested pink leather

ball replacing the standard red

cherry ball in a format that dates

back to the 1870s. Traditionally use

of flood lights in Test matches have

been protested by the orthodox

cricketing fraternity but the lights

have finally made it to Tests to

increase the interest of spectators in

this format.

The match started at 2 p.m.

(Adelaide local time), instead of late

morning, as has been the tradition.

Batting first, New Zealand was

dismissed for 202 on the first day of

this historic test.

2) Which renowned foreign bank on 27

November 2015 announced shutting of

its private banking operations in India? –

HSBC

Explanation: HSBC Holdings Plc.,

which is Europe‟s largest bank,

announced shutting of its private

banking operations in India. The

decision to close private banking

operations was taken after a strategic

review of the business by HSBC group.

According to media reports, HSBC‟s

private banking business in India has

about 70 staff.

HSBC would offer private banking

clients in India the choice to move to

HSBC Premier, the bank‟s global

retail banking and wealth

management platform.

This marked the exit of another

foreign bank from the cut-throat

wealth management business in

India, which is Asia‟s third-largest

economy.

Banks including Royal Bank of

Scotland (RBS) and Morgan Stanley

have sold their onshore India private

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banking units in the recent past, as

part of their global business

restructuring.

3) From 25 November 2015 the Union

Govt. extended the usage criterion of

the RuPay debit cards under the

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

(PMJDY) in order to avail of the in-built

insurance cover to 90 days. What was

the usage criterion till now? – 45 days

Explanation: One of the stipulations of

meeting the claim under accidental

Death and/or permanent disablement

was that the RuPay Card holder has to

carry-out at least one successful

financial or non-financial transaction

within 45 days to claim the insurance

claim. This has now been extended to

90 days as this condition was posing

problem to many RuPay Card holders.

Under PMJDY, RuPay Debit Card

with an inbuilt accident insurance

cover of Rs.1 lakh is also provided

to account holders.

Only accidents arising on or after

November 25 will be considered for

the extended period. Under the

Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana

(PMJDY) 16.54 crore accounts have

been provided a RuPay debit card.

4) Noted industrialist Mansukhbhai

Kothari passed away at the age of 90 at

his residence in Kanpur on 27

November 2015. He was founder of

which iconic FMCG brand? – „Pan

Parag‟

Explanation: Mansukhbhai Kothari was

the founder of „Kothari Products Limited‟

which produced the iconic „Pan Parag‟

brand of pan masala. Kothari was

instrumental in laying the foundation of

the pan masala industry and making

Kanpur (Uttar Pradesh) as the capital of

pan masala industry.

He was born in 1925 in Gujarat. He

started his career as a daily wage

labourer after shifting from Gujarat

to Kanpur at the tender age of 16.

He later saw huge opportunity in

pan masala and after a few

attempts founded Kothari Products

Limited as a corporate company.

He was also involved in numerous

philanthropic activities in the field of

education and social emancipation.

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5) Who resigned from the post of the

Chairman of the Indian Council of

Historical Research (ICHR), as reported

on 27 November 2015? – Prof.

Y.Sudershan Rao

Explanation: Prof. Y.Sudershan Rao

was appointed Chairman of the ICHR

almost 16 months ago by the Narendra

Modi-led Union Govt. His appointment

to a three-year term was questioned by

some eminent historians over his

academic credentials.

As per media reports he resigned

because he was unhappy over the

denial of an honorarium of Rs 1.5

lakh a month. This was however

denied by Prof. Rao.

Rao is a member of the Akhil

Bharatiya Itihas Sankalan Yojana

(ABISY), the history wing of the

Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh

(RSS).

ICHR is an autonomous body of the

Human Resource Development

(HRD) Ministry and is engaged in

providing direction to the research

scholars in their multifarious topics

of historical research through

established historians and scholars

in India. It also provides funds to

historians. It is based in Delhi with

regional centers in Bangaluru

(Karnataka) and Guwahati (Assam).

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Nov 29-30, 2015

1) The 2-day Commonwealth Heads of

Government Meeting for 2015 (CHOGM

2015) concluded on 29 November 2015.

This 24th edition of the biennial meet of

the 53 Commonwealth countries was

held in which country? – Malta

Explanation: CHOGM was held at the

small and picturesque Mediterranean

country of Malta from 27 to 29

November 2015. Her Majesty Queen

Elizabeth II declared proceedings

officially open on 27 November.

The summit which was originally

designated to be hosted by

Mauritius, was given instead to

Malta when the Mauritian Prime

Minister Navin Ramgoolam refused

to attend the CHOGM 2013 over the

human rights situation prevailing in

the host country, Sri Lanka. He thus

withdrew as the host of the 2015

summit as protocol had required

him to attend the summit in order to

personally invite other member

states.

CHOGM 2015 held a special

session on climate change and

global sustainability as it was held

just before the United Nations

Climate Change Conference in

Paris. The issue of international

terrorism and the European migrant

crisis was also discussed in the

meet.

External Affairs minister Sushma

Swaraj represented India in the

meeting instead of Prime Minister

Narendra Modi.

London will host the next edition of

CHOGM in 2018, as the next

summit originally scheduled for

2017 in Vanuatu, was cancelled. It

was cancelled as Vanuatu

rescinded its offer to host due to the

long-term effects of devastation to

the island nation‟s infrastructure

caused by Cyclone Pam in March

2015.

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2) Who was elected as the first-

ever female Secretary-General of the

Commonwealth on 27 November 2015

during CHOGM 2015? – Patricia

Scotland

Explanation: Dominica-born lawyer

Patricia Scotland, who is a former

attorney general to the British

government, was elected as the new

Secretary-General of the

Commonwealth on 27 November during

its biennial summit in Malta.

She thus became the first-ever

woman to be elected for running the

53-country organisation. She will

thus replace Indian diplomat

Kamalesh Sharma on 1 April 2016,

who will complete his second term

then.

While Queen Elizabeth II is the

head of the Commonwealth, the

Secretary-General‟s duties involve

representing the organisation

globally and promoting its values

and principles, chiefly democratic

standards and development.

Previous Commonwealth

Secretaries-General have been

Arnold Smith of Canada (1965-

1975), Shridath Ramphal of Guyana

(1975-1990), Chief Emeka Anyaoku

of Nigeria (1990-2000) and Don

McKinnon of New Zealand (2000-

2008).

3) Who created boxing history by ending

Ukrainian boxer Wladimir Klitschko‟s 11-

year reign as the world heavyweight

champion on 28 November 2015? –

Tyson Fury

Explanation: British boxer Tyson Fury

created a huge upset when he defeated

legendary Ukrainian boxer Wladimir

Klitschko‟s 11-year reign as the world

heavyweight champion after winning the

title fight on 28 November. This bout

was held in Dusseldorf (Germany) and

Fury won it on points.

Fury was awarded the fight 115-

112, 115-112 and 116-111 by the

three judges to take Klitschko‟s

WBA, IBF, IBO and WBO belts.

Wladimir Klitschko is the second

longest reigning heavyweight

champion of all time and has the

second most successful title

defenses for any heavyweight boxer

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with total 23 title defenses in his

illustrious career.

4) What is the name of the Indian-

American billionaire philanthropist who

unveiled a path-breaking new invention

in the form of a stationary cycle that can

generate free electricity? – Manoj

Bhargava

Explanation: Manoj Bhargava is an

India-born billionaire philanthropist who

shot to fame with his 5-Hour Energy

drink. He has reportedly net worth of

around $4 billion. On 28 November

2015 he unveiled his new invention – a

stationary cycle that is capable of

generating electricity through pedalling.

The stationary cycle that was

launched by Manoj Bhargava

generates power by pedalling. The

pedalling turns a flywheel, which

spins a generator that charges the

attached battery. One hour of

pedalling can meet a rural

household‟s electricity needs for 24

hours, including running lights, a

small fan and charging a cell phone,

all without electricity bills, fuel costs

or pollution. The price of one such

cycle is expected between

Rs. 12,000-15,000 and will be

available by March 2016.

Bhargava intends to first start selling

the product in Uttarakhand and later

target rest of the domestic market.

Production of this path-breaking

cycle will also be done in India.

5) In an important event associated with

India‟s defence forces, the Long Range

Surface to Air Missile (LRSAM), jointly

designed and developed by Israel‟s IAI

and India‟s DRDO, was successfully

flight tested from an Israeli naval

platform on 27 November 2015. What is

the Israeli name of this sophisticated

missile? – Barack 8

Explanation: LRSAM (or Barack 8, as it

is called in Israel) is an advanced, long-

range missile defence and air defence

system. Its main features are long

range, active radar seeker missile,

vertical launch and multiple

simultaneous engagements.

The air defence system has been

jointly developed by India‟s Defence

Research and Development

Organisation (DRDO) and Israel

Aerospace Industries (IAI) of Israel.

The system was successfully tested

from an Israeli Naval Platform,

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wherein the missile successfully

engaged and destroyed the

incoming air target.

Further Operational Flight Trials

(O.F.T) will be conducted shortly

from Indian Naval Platform before

induction into the service. It will be

inducted into Indian Naval Ships (P-

15A).

6) Indian badminton ace P V Sindhu

won the women‟s singles title of Macau

Open by defeating Japan‟s Minatsu

Mitani in the final held on 29 November

2015. With this title win, Sindhu

achieved which distinction? – She

completed a hat-trick of titles at the

Macau Open

Explanation: Two-time defending

champion P V Sindhu won her third

consecutive Macau Open title after

defeating sixth seeded Minatsu Mitani

by 21-9, 21-23, 21-14 in the finals on 29

November.

She had earlier advanced to finals

of the event with a gruelling three-

game triumph over second seed

Akane Yamaguchi of Japan in the

semifinals, which she won 21-8, 15-

21, 21-16.

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